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Man Beaten by Panhandler Yelling 'F---ing Indians': Lawyer

By Katie Honan | August 8, 2016 5:34pm
 Gazi Rahman holds a photo of himself taken after he was attacked on May 7, 2016.
Gazi Rahman holds a photo of himself taken after he was attacked on May 7, 2016.
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DNAinfo/Katie Honan

JAMAICA — A Bangladeshi man was beaten in an unprovoked attack by an aggressive panhandler shouting "f---ing Indians," according to his lawyer, who is calling for the charges to be dropped and for his attacker to be charged with a hate crime.

Gazi Rahman, 46, was walking on Hillside Avenue near Parsons Boulevard at around 8 p.m. on May 7 when he was approached by Christopher Porr, 39, of Fresh Meadows, according to the criminal complaint and an NYPD video shared by his lawyer. 

Porr asked him for money, and when Rahman declined, he was shoved against a wall and sent tumbling to the ground, according to his lawyer, Ali Najmi, who obtained NYPD surveillance video from the attack taken from a camera at the corner. 

In the video, shared by Najmi, Porr can be seen pursuing Rahman after sparking the fight. Rahman then starts kicking back before bystanders rush to break them up, the video shows.

"The video shows Mr. Rahman, a law-abiding citizen, not doing anything wrong," Najmi said outside Queens Criminal Court on Monday, adding that police who arrived at the scene arrested both Rahman and Porr and issued them both desk-appearance tickets for third-degree assault.

"Mr. Rahman was viciously assaulted, his nose is broken, he lost a substantial amount of blood, he suffered a concussion," Najmi continued and demanded that the Queens DA immediately drop the charges against Rahman and elevate Porr's charges to a hate crime.

Najmi said he obtained the video of the incident from an NYPD camera on the corner of Hillside Avenue and Parsons Boulevard via a Freedom of Information request.

He submitted the video into evidence at their last court date on July 8, as well as witness statements that said Porr repeatedly shouted "f---ing Indians" during and after the attack. 

Porr's lawyer, Caleb Flourant, declined to comment.

Rahman, an exterminator who came to the United States from Bangladesh 18 years ago, said Monday that the attack has left him afraid to leave his home.

"I feel very bad," he said, while holding a photo of his bloodied face taken after the attack. "When I walk, I feel like somebody is coming behind me to attack me."

Glen Rozado witnessed the attack while standing outside a supermarket on the corner.

He said Porr kept shouting "f---ing Indians" over and over during the attack.

"He was big, nobody could stop him," he said. "Everybody was scared of him, even now we are scared to walk around...he tried to punch me, too, when I followed him."

A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said they "are reviewing the allegations" but do not comment on pending cases. 

Porr and Rahman are both due back in court on Sept. 8, according to records.