QUEENS — The hulking bouncer who was charged with brutally beating a Queens clubgoer has been charged with murder after the the victim was taken off life support this weekend, according to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Deosarran Ramdular, 24, died Sunday, a week after he was allegedly beaten by bouncer Kristian Sorbera at Club Moka in South Richmond Hill.
"The victim...passed away, so the charges have been increased to murder," Kelly said at a ribbon-cutting in Central Park Tuesday.
UPDATED WITH DETAILS FROM FUNERAL
Sorbera, 27, listed in city Department of Correction records as 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, has been charged with attacking Ramdular outside Moka Night Club & Lounge about 4:15 a.m. Monday March 18, cops said.
Sorbera allegedly pummeled the victim in the face and neck, leaving him with multiple facial fractures, cuts and severe brain damage, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.
The suspect, who lives in Fresh Meadows, turned himself in the next day and was charged with the assault. Police said the charges were updated to murder after Ramdular's death. According to the DA's office, the increased charges will be brought before a grand jury.
Sorbera was also charged with an incident on Feb. 4 at the club in which he and another man allegedly punched a clubgoer in the face, breaking his jaw, and stole his cellphone.
But Sorbera's family said the suspect was "a gentle giant" and the victim antagonized him.
Ramdular and some friends were kicked out of the club after getting into a fight that included yelling and throwing bottles, according to the suspect's family.
"They waited outside of the club for an hour until my son got off work. Then they surrounded him," said the suspect's mother, Karla Sorbera.
Her son, she said, has been working security for nine years.
"I'm crying my heart out. It's a nightmare," she said. "I can't sleep. I can't think straight. I'm doing the best I can."
Kristian Sorbera's brother, Robert, said that it was self-defense.
"He was defending himself," he said. "He was just scared."
After the assault, Ramdular, an air conditioning technician and student at APEX Technical School, was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, cops said.
"It was unimaginable," Ramdular's father, 62-year-old Ramdular Baboolall, said Monday, of his son's condition. "He had cuts all over. His eyes were so swollen you could barely see.
"I couldn't stand watching it."
He was pronounced brain dead on Friday and his family decided to take him off life support on Sunday, family said.
On Tuesday night, dozens of relatives and friends gathered for a wake at the Bergen Funeral Home on Rockaway Boulevard to mourn Ramdular's death.
A red and white flower arrangement shaped like a heart stood next to his open casket.
"He was a great guy," said friend Jason Narain, 29. "He was a funny guy. There was never a dull moment."
Narain said he was trying to come to grips with his friend's death.
"I'm pretty messed up still," Narain said.
Ramdular's 62-year-old uncle said he didn't believe that Sorbera was the one who was attacked.
"[Sorbera] followed him around the corner," the uncle said. "He pushed him to the ground, kicked him in the head, and that's self-defense?"
An operator said Monday that the club was closed for Passover.
Additional reporting by Jill Colvin and Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska
