NYC driver accused of beating Sikh man to death over fender-bender charged with hate crimes

A week after a top NYPD official ruled out bias in the Queens beating death of a Sikh man, prosecutors have announced hate crime charges against the suspect as more information comes out of the investigation.

Gilbert Augustin, 30, was indicted for manslaughter and assault — both as hate crimes — in Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday. The added hate crime charges came just days after victim Jasmer Singh’s family pushed for the case to be treated as a bias incident.

A week ago, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny called the case “100% not a hate crime,” adding that Augustin “never indicated that the assault stemmed from the nationality or race.”

“During a Queens district attorney’s grand jury investigation, new information came to light that was not originally revealed to NYPD detectives,” an NYPD spokesman told the Daily News on Tuesday.

Outrage from the Sikh community, as well as a social media push calling for hate crime charges, encouraged prosecutors to take another look at the case, Singh’s son Subeg Multani said Tuesday.

“Every citizen stood with me, especially the gentlemen here with me today, in this moment of grief for us, for my family,” Multani said outside court surrounded by supporters. “I’m very thankful for everyone who stood up on social media, electronic media, and print media. This is the country of rule of law. As a victim, I’m thanking everyone.”

Augustin flew into a rage Oct. 19 after his Mustang collided with the 66-year-old father of three’s Toyota on the Van Wyck Expressway near Hillside Ave. in Kew Gardens, prosecutors said.

The two pulled over and Augustin stormed up to Singh, who was still seated in his car with his wife, according to prosecutors.

A witness observed Augustin saying “No police, no police,” and repeatedly referring to Singh as “turban man,” then telling the victim he was not going to let him go home and didn’t want him to call the cops, prosecutors said.

Augustin reached into Singh’s car and took his cell phone, so Singh got out of the Toyota to retrieve it, eventually getting his phone back, according to prosecutors.

As Singh walked back to his car, Augustin allegedly punched him three times in the head and face, knocking his turban off his head and sending him sprawling backward to the ground.

The back of Singh’s head slammed into the pavement, causing a brain injury, prosecutors said.

Singh died at the hospital the next day — the same day an NYPD officer spotted Augustin sitting in his dented Mustang on 111th Ave. in Jamaica, prosecutors said. Augustin, who had a suspended license and couldn’t show valid insurance, was taken into custody.

“This is a case of a fender-bender immediately escalating to hateful language and then brutal, deadly violence,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Tuesday. “We will show in court that it was a rage inflamed by hate that led to this senseless tragedy.”

Multani said his father was a “law-abiding citizen” who died after being confronted by hatred and bigotry.

“There is no room for hate in this city and in this country,” he said, adding that his parents were planning a trip to India. “They were happily [planning to board] a flight to India. Now, [Multani’s mother] will have my father’s ashes in her lap on the same flight.”

Multani’s mother, a diabetic and cancer survivor, was too weak to show up at Tuesday’s news conference, he said.

“We are in bad shape,” the grieving son said. “I want the justice.”

At the news conference Tuesday, Multani introduced 50-year-old Lakhvir Singh, an Uber driver who was attacked by at least one man in Midtown early Sunday morning, the driver and police said.

Multani claims the Sikh man was attacked due to his “distinctive identity,” but he did not elaborate on any bias in the assault, which he said kicked off after a group of men threw bottles at the windshield of Lakhvir Singh’s car.

After an argument, a man walked up to the victim’s driver’s side window and punched him in the face, according to police.

“They punch so badly that his glasses were struck in one of his eyes,” Multani said. “He could have lost his eyesight.”

Lakhvir Singh was treated on the scene for redness and swelling to his face, cops said. The assault is not being investigated as a hate crime.

Japneet Singh, president of the Khalsa Community Patrol and a former candidate for the the New York State Senate, was stunned when he heard cops weren’t initially bringing hate crime charges against Augustin.

“How could this not be a hate crime?” he said. “If this man did not have a turban, if he was younger, we know for a fact this would not have been the result of this altercation.”

Augustin, who was arraigned on a 20-count indictment, could face 25 years in prison if convicted. His lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Jasmer Singh immigrated to the city from the Punjab region 1990s, settling in Richmond Hill, Queens, with his wife to raise their daughter and two sons.