Oct. 2, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
A Woodside man has been sentenced to three and half years in prison for a hate crime committed against an MTA employee earlier this year, announced District Attorney Richard Brown today.
Meher Kalam, 23, pleaded guilty to second degree assault as a hate crime last month that took place in June, where he called an MTA train conductor the n-word and punched him repeatedly.
According to the charges, Keith Simon, the conductor, spotted Kalam sleeping on the train as he did a walk through at around 9:20 p.m. on June 18. Simon woke Kalam up and told him he had to exit the train, as it was being parked for the evening at the 71st and Continental Avenue train station on Queens Boulevard.
Kalam yelled, “N—, I am going to f— you up” and pushed the conductor toward a slowly-approaching train. He then punched the conductor in the face with his forearm, and repeatedly hit his stomach when the victim tried to restrain him.
“This was a vicious, unprovoked attack on an MTA worker who was just doing his job,” said DA Brown, adding, “This kind of violence—especially motivated by hate and prejudice—will not be tolerated in Queens County.”
Kalam’s three and a half year prison sentence will be followed by three years post release supervision.
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19 Comments
why the conductor? he’s just a regular joe working with the public and has to deal with the pig managers that stall the service and dont allow for more trains or dont re-route one when things go south and platforms get filled up. he should have punched the fat managers or better yet, the executives. they deserve it the most. now that would have earned him a hero title. he would have made front page on the daily news!
The only hate I’ve seen around NYC comes from so-called progressives when they don’t get their way.
Toughen up snowflake
Big Jim – Keep drinking the koolaide at Fox News.,Have you heard Trump or Rush Limbaugh?
Trump 2020 remember that Tommy boy.
Will you still be alive then? Hopefully the nursing home has Fox News on for election night if so.
I’ve also heard the lunatics Bernie Sanders and Bill de Blowsio i.e. your buddies.
This is un-necessary over-criminalization. People use all kinds of hateful speech on a daily basis, you can’t use that as a basis to label it a heavier hate crime.
Not to mention over-protected (rude AF) mta employees who go around doing whatever they want because they got that UNION protection yo! Like cops.
::rolls eyes:: DA is retarded.
What an absolutely ignorant comment. Please leave NY as soon as possible, so we can all be better off.
Yes, nothing to suggest an aggressive, hateful use of the n-word here (assuming, for the sake of argument, casual use is ok – it’s not).
It’s not like he started yelling at the conductor, or giving him a fore-arm smash, or punching him in the stomach. Or.. em…
The DA is out of touch here because there are plenty of people who use the N word casually. Not that using it casually is a good thing. Its just not always used with hate. Seems like a morality thing more than anything else. Was the conductor even black? This just seems weird.
Good point, since most of Trump’s supporters are neo-nazis, how is this guy worse?
Hate crime. Lol .I had sympathy for the MTA employee until he pulled out his race card.
Whatever gets this POS the longest sentence possible is fine by me. Without the hate crime this probably would have been a misdemeanor, Comstat rules don’t ya know. Plea bargaining starts before the arrest now.
I agree give him the max.
The Trump Derangement Syndrome is strong with this one. An attack on a MTA employee is Trumps fault. Trump Trump Trump. Because no crime happened until he became President. Do yourself a favor and check the crime statistics of Chicago before and after President Obama’s time in office.
Trump is a one man crime wave. Fact! Trump Univerdity, HUD discrimination. Illegal demolition, use of illegal alien labor. Just a few of his convictions.
That’s reductionist Tommy O. Trump is not a one-man crime wave. There are many convicted criminals in his cabinet, it’s not just Tax-dodgin Trump.
Get a life. Not everything needs to be politicized. Go find a safe place. Let’s see how long it takes before this becomes about bike lanes and dog runs.