SUNSET PARK — Two brothers were charged with a hate crime after knifing a man because they heard him speaking Arabic, prosecutors said Monday.
The victim, his wife and eight-year-old son were walking on 41st Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues in Sunset Park on Oct. 16 at about 2:30 p.m. when Erick Pastuizaca said "what are you looking at," according to a criminal complaint from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
Pastuizaca, who was standing next to a parked Toyota Avalon, began to curse at the victim and said, "You're a p---y, why are you walking away," the complaint said.
The victim spoke to his wife in Arabic and told her to ignore the man. To that, Pastuizaca said: "You're Arabic, go back to your own country," according to the complaint.
Pastuizaca then stabbed the victim in the stomach with a knife and fled the scene, according to the complaint.
That's when Pastuizaca's brother Manuel got out of the parked car and said: "What did you do to my brother?"
Manuel Pastuizaca then said, according to the complaint: "I'm going to stab you because you're Arabic and you deserve it." He then stabbed the victim in the arm with a second knife, prosecutors said.
During the incident, the Pastuizaca brother's 4-year-old nephew was sitting in the parked car, according to Detective Anthony K. Spencer.
The victim suffered a puncture wound to the abdomen and a cut on his arm.
Erick and Manuel Pastuizaca were arrested and charged with multiple counts of assault as a hate crime, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, among other charges.
Manuel Pastuizaca's attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. Information about Erik Pasuizaca's lawyer was not immediately available.
The victim, who spoke to ABC News, said he tried to avoid his attackers. "I told him, 'Why you talking to me like that, I don't want any trouble,'" he said.
"As we’ve always said, hate crimes, those motivated by fear, bigotry, and cowardice, against a particular group of people are especially hurtful because they attack us at the basest level of our humanity. They are an attack against who we are," City Councilman Carlos Menchaca said in a post on Facebook. "The pain this family has endured is unimaginable."
U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who represents the neighborhood, posted her reaction to the incident on twitter.
"Horrified by recent hate crime in #SunsetPark. We must be unified in opposing intolerance and violence."
