Updated 11/16/2008 06:20 PM
Two S.I. Teens Plead Not Guilty To Hate Crime
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Two Staten Island teenagers accused of beating a Muslim teen pleaded not guilty to hate crime charges Sunday.
Police say 18-year-olds Ralph Nicoletti and Bryan Garaventa attacked Ali Kamara, 17, on November 4.
The teens were charged with assault as a hate crime and weapons possession.
Bail is set at $10,000 and the duo are due back in court on November 20.
Kamara says the teens attacked him while he was walking home from a friends house on election night.
He says Nicoletti and Garaventa yelled Barack Obama's name repeatedly during the attack.
Prosecutors allege that the two defendants made other racist acts that evening.
"There was a beauty shop on Bay Street where a number of individuals were watching the election results and cheering the election of President-elect Obama," said S.I. District Attorney Daniel Donovan. "We have evidence that they yelled out of their car in passing some derogatory remarks to those individuals who were watching the election."
Donovan also said the two may face federal charges as the FBI and federal prosecutors are also involved in the investigation.
The attorney for Garaventa said his client denies the charges against him while Nicoletti's attorney declined comment.
Many groups on Staten Island were working to educate people to prevent similar attacks.
"What the most important thing is that we have to show that people from all across the colored lines are going to come together and work towards making these things go away," said Dora Berksteiner, president of the S.I. African American Political Association.
"This is something that put a lot of bad light to Staten Island on a night that we should have been very proud of what this country has just done," said Edward Josey, president of Staten Island National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "So now the country, Staten Island has to go through the healing process just to get back to page one."
Law enforcement sources told NY1 that police continued to look Sunday for other people who may have been involved.