Justice Department Launches Federal Inquiry Into Attacks On Latinos In Long Island

The recent wave of attacks on Latinos in Long Island, like that of Patchogue resident Marcelo Lucero, has prompted a federal investigation that will, perhaps, include looking into whether the Suffolk County Police Department handled these situations to the best of it ability. Judging from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s decision to call a hate crime a “one-day story” that was unworthy of the media coverage it inspired, we’re going to go with, “No, they did not.”

Justice Department spokesman Scot Montrey said the department was would file criminal civil-rights charges against those accused of targeting and attacking Latinos. The Justice Department’s special litigation division, meanwhile, is still debating whether it will conduct a separate investigation of police practice related to these crimes.

Latino neighbors, advocates and media outlets like the New York Times and public radio station WSHU have all maintained that other assaults in the area seemed to have included many more attackers than were charged by police.

Suffolk County police commissioner Richard Dormer has agreed that the police seem to have dropped the ball on recognizing a pattern of hate crimes but has denied that his department has discriminated against the Latino victims of these crimes:

“We welcome the D.O.J. looking into these incidents, many of which had not been reported until recently.”

It’s really too bad that it takes public outrage and a federal investigation to prove that targeting “spics” and murdering people because of their perceived ethnicity are, in fact, hate crimes and not “one-day stories.”

Assaults on Latinos Spur Inquiry [NY Times]