US man who beat Sikh man to death faces hate charge

NEW YORK: A man accused of beating a 66-year-old Sikh man to death after a minor car crash in October was motivated by "rage inflamed by hate," the Queens district attorney said Tuesday while announcing that the killing was now being prosecuted as a hate crime. The accused,

Gilbert Augustin

, had repeatedly called the victim,

Jasmer Singh

, "turban man" before attacking him brutally.

Augustin was initially charged with manslaughter and assault. The absence of hate crime charges prompted an outcry among Sikhs in New York. The new charges filed against him Tuesday included manslaughter and assault as hate crimes. Augustin faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.