Teen Arrested In Connection W/ Huntington Station Hate Crime: PD

HUNTINGTON, NY — A Huntington Station teenager was arrested Thursday after he was accused of punching another teenager and making biased comments towards him, Suffolk police said.

Two groups of teenagers were arguing at Walt Whitman Shops on May 29 when a 13-year-old boy punched another 13-year-old boy in the face and made biased comments, police said. The boy was not injured, police said.

Chaz Bedi, 13, of Syosset, who is a Sikh, told ABC 7 that he and his friend, who were wearing dastars, were walking through the mall when they passed a large group of teenagers. One of the teens called Bedi "Muhammad," Bedi told Eyewitness News reporter Kristin Thorne. Words were exchanged, but Bedi and his friend tried to walk away before the group followed them, according to ABC 7. One teenager told Bedi, "I'm going to knock that ball off your head," Bedi told Eyewitness News.

Bedi was then punched, police said.

The teenager accused of punching Bedi was arrested at the Second Precinct at 9 p.m. Thursday, police said. He was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, a class A misdemeanor and hate crime under New York state penal law. He is set to be arraigned at Suffolk County Family Court at a later date.

Police did not name the teenager who was arrested.

Satbir Singh, Chaz’s father, told CBS New York his family would press charges because he felt if the teenagers accused of harassing his son got off easy, they would, "hang out with each other and give each other high-fives and say, ‘Ha, look what we did, we walked away.'"