The fatal stabbing of New York City dancer O'Shea Sibley last week will be prosecuted as a hate crime and the teenaged suspect will be charged as an adult.
www.dailymail.co.uk
The
fatal stabbing of
New York City dancer O'Shea Sibley last week will be prosecuted as a hate
crime and the teenaged suspect will be charged as an adult.
Dmitriy Popov was indicted Thursday for second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing the professional dancer who was 'voguing' to a Beyoncé song in Coney Island at the time of his death.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced a grand jury on Thursday afternoon who voted to indict the 17-year-old 'good, Christian' teenager.
Popov, a fourth-year student at The Professional Pathways Sheepshead High School, had no prior run-ins with the law.
The 17-year-old is set to be arraigned on Friday. He is facing a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison, and a maximum of 25 years to life.
The Brooklyn prosecutor reassured the public that the case would be taken 'very seriously' against Popov, whose name has not yet been officially released because he is a minor.
'They were being themselves, dancing joyfully to Beyoncé music at a Brooklyn gas station,' Gonzalez said on Thursday.
'We promise the family that we would have a vigorous, thorough prosecution.'
'Defending yourself from being an anti-gay or an anti-Black comment and arguing back is not a cause for someone to take a weapon and do what was done in this case,' Gonzalez added.
Gonzalez said the whole community has been impacted by the tragic incident.
'Hate crimes impacts a victim, but it also impacts a community,' he continued. 'It robs not just the family, but an entire community of the sense of safety and security.'
Popov's lawyer refuted the claims that his client was Muslim, which what was initially reported by witnesses.
He claimed that the teenager is a 'good Christian boy,' whose parents immigrated to Brooklyn from Russia.
Popov's defense attorney Mark Pollard also said that police do not have the weapon that was used to kill the victim.
He told PIX 11 that police have not collected the knife that Popov allegedly used to kill Sibley.
Surveillance footage captured a group of teens reportedly yelling homophobic slurs and anti-black statements to Sibley and his friends, according to surveillance footage ABC News Chicago reported.
Security camera video showed the argument had broken up and both groups had walked away when Sibley and his friends abruptly returned and crossed a parking lot to confront the white 17-year-old, who was recording with his phone, the Associated Press reported.
In the video, Sibley could be seen following the teen and then lunging at him. The stabbing happened out of a clear view of the cameras.
Officials said after words were exchanged the teen took out a knife and stabbed Sibley to death.
The suspect, whose identity was not disclosed because he is a minor, turned himself into police. Brooklyn prosecutors charged him with murder, hate crime murder, and criminal possession of a weapon.
More than 200 people attended Sibley's funeral on Tuesday in his hometown of Philadelphia at the historic opera house.
nypost.com
