By Olivia Scheck and Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producers
MANHATTAN — Two men have been arraigned on hate charges after allegedly beating an Imam, calling him a "camel jockey" and throwing his religious head covering onto the subway tracks early Wednesday morning.
Two men, Albert Melendez, 30, from Harlem, and Eddie Crespo, 28, from Staten Island, are accused of making anti-Muslim remarks and assaulting the 49-year-old victim on the northbound A train platform inside the Canal Street subway station, police said.
According to the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), the man who was attacked is an Imam.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office declined to confirm the name of the Imam.
The men were riding a northbound A train when Melendez began harassing the victim, according to the criminal complaint.
"What are you, a camel jockey? I don't like Muslims," he allegedly said.
Prosecutors charged that Melendez and Crespo followed the victim off the train when they arrived at the station. Melendez allegedly attempted to kick the victim as he exited the train and then grabbed him and forced him to the ground.
Crespo then allegedly grabbed the man while Melendez grabbed the kufi off his head and threw it into the subway tracks, while restating his dislike for Muslims, the complaint said.
Melendez then allegedly punched the victim several times in the face. The victim had to be treated for a black eye and swelling, prosecutors said.
But during Melendez's arraignment Thursday, his attorney, Angel Soto, gave a very different account.
Soto said Melendez was on his way home when he made accidental contact with the alleged victim. Melendez extended his hand in apology, but the victim refused to touch it, prompting a fight, the attorney said.
Soto said that Crespo had intervened to break up the fight. It was not clear whether the two men charged knew each other prior to the incident.
"Certainly this was not a racially motivated attack,” said Soto, who dismissed the charged as "trumped up" and the prosecution’s requested $100,000 bail "ridiculously high."
Soto said Melendez has sole custody over his 13-year-old son and said that his mother worked for the Department of Correction.
Both Melendez and Crespo were arraigned on two charges of robbery in the second degree as a hate crime and assault in the third degree as a hate crime, the D.A.'s office said.
Crespo's bail was set at $7,500 cash or $20,000 bond and Melendez's bail at $25,000.
The case is being investigated by the D.A.'s Hate Crimes Unit.
