S.I. Leaders Condemn Recent Bias Attack
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Elected officials and community leaders came together Tuesday to condemn last month's alleged bias attack on Staten Island.
They joined victim Luis Maltez at Borough Hall to spread the same message that acts of hate will not be tolerated.
Maltez says he was beaten with baseball bats by men who were yelling racial slurs at him on June 17th in Bulls Head. He suffered head injuries, which required about 20 stitches.
"I thank God because they didn't kill me, I was able to live," Maltez said. "What happened to me could happen to anybody, thank God they got caught."
"It's cliche, but kids aren't born with this ignorance or this hatred in them. They're aren't born to say, 'I'm going to grow up and I'm going to beat up on a guy because of how he looks or maybe where he's from or how he speaks' and that's learned somewhere along the lines," said City Councilman James Oddo.
Joseph Sweeney, 23, and Albijond Kaja, 28, have been arraigned on multiple charges including assault as a hate crime.
If convicted, both men could spend 25 years behind bars.