Is Racial Hate Crime Coming Back to Staten Isl. NYC?

                                                                         

Dayshen McKenzie died of an asthma attack while running for his life.

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Is hate crime coming back to Staten Island, the fifth borough that makes up the City of NY? I sincerely hope not. Those were day in which I was ashamed to live here and cursed the time I decided to come back to my borough from FL. 

I remember posting and at one point being a target my self of the ignorance and hate which are the two prime ingredients to make someone go after another person because they are black, Mexican or Gay. I mentioned those specific groups because they were the ones that some hispanics and white kids went after not too long ago. After 2012 the wave of crimes seemed to go away. There was a lot of negative coverage from the press and community groups at the time which I think it gave some of the younger guys doing this a chance to grow up. I hope we are not having another crop of these idiots.

When we have hatred being spewed from the top political office seekers in the nation I am truly surprised we don’t have more of this.

The victim in this case was a 19 year old asthmatic black young man. There is no question that he was chased and that caused or was one of the causes to his death. The question would be why was he chased? I hope the police has not forgotten how to deal with this problem.  In the past the Police Dept is brought detectives from Manhattan to investigate. This is not surprising because you need experience investigators that can weed out non racists details and ask the right questions and go after all involved to get the details.

For that they need cooperation from witness’ so they can go after the people responsible.

The below report came from AP and originally posted by the local CBS affiliate in New York:

New York City police are investigating the death of a black teenager as a hate crime after he was reportedly chased by a mostly white group shouting racial slurs.

Dayshen McKenzie, 16, of Staten Island, who had asthma and a heart condition, died last Friday of an asthma attack after the chase, The Daily News reported. The official cause of death is pending.

A friend, 19-year-old Harry Smith, told the paper it all started when their group and another group got into a dispute over a girl. He claims the other group left, came back in three cars, and started chasing them. Smith said the suspects used “a lot of racial slurs” and one displayed a gun.

The group dispersed, with McKenzie running a quarter-mile away to Spartan Avenue, where he collapsed, WCBS 880’s Marla Diamond reported.

Former police officer Diane Fatigati found the unconscious teen laying in her neighbor’s backyard and tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

“I revived him once with the help of one of the teens and then he went out again, I revived him again,” Fatigati told 1010 WINS. “Police came in, told us to put our hands up, we did and they took over.”

EMS responded and rushed McKenzie to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“I pray for this kid every night,” Fatigati said, adding the boy’s mother reached out to her and invited her to McKenzie’s funeral. “She wants to give me a hug and I’m more than happy to oblige her.”

Fatigati told the Daily News the group chasing McKenzie and his friends consisted of young white males and one Hispanic male, and two of the cars had Pennsylvania plates.

In the initial investigation, police said there was no mention of racial slurs being shouted or someone waving a gun. They are now investigating the death as a hate crime, 1010 WINS reported.

McKenzie’s mother, Tisha Richardson, said she wants justice and that someone should be held accountable.

Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon issued a statement saying, “We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dayshen McKenzie during their time of grief. This office takes any allegations of a hate crime seriously. At this time, we have spoken with members of the NYPD who are investigating and we will continue to speak with them as this matter continues to be investigated.”

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio told WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” that more facts are needed.

“We cannot rush to judgment on this. We need to know more,” de Blasio said Friday morning. “We just don’t know enough yet to determine what happened here. I think it is important that people take a breath while the PD has a chance to really investigate and get right to the facts of this case.”