No arrests were made and no charges were filed, but the NYPD opened an investigation into the teen’s death following the exclusive report by the Daily News. The chase was apparently instigated by a dispute between one of McKenzie’s friends and a member of the other group, who had assembled at a nearby Checkers.
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Then he said the other group, ‘left, and they came back three cars deep, ‘ and said a guy in the first auto had a gun, according to the Daily News. “The guy in the first vehicle had a gun”.
According to Smith, he and his friends, including McKenzie, sprinted away, trying to outrun the cars. Smith recalled hearing the other group shout racist insults at them. But things turned violent when that group drove back and started chasing McKenzie and his friends.
A former police officer, who tried to revive the dying teen, told the Daily News the group chasing McKenzie and his friends consisted of young white males and one Hispanic male, and two of the cars had Pennsylvania plates. “I came out and said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘My brother’s dead, my brother’s dead!” “They guy said, ‘You got a problem?’ And my (friend) said, ‘You got a problem?’ and it went on”, Smith said. “He’s dying, he’s dying!'”
Recounting Mr McKenzie’s death, she added: “The kids were throwing water on him”.
The 43 year-old added: “The sadness turns to anger”.
Police are now investigating the death as a hate crime, 1010 WINS reported. “Mr. Mckenzie rolled up to that location in support of a friend of his for a possible fight between these groups”.
However, Dayshen suffered from a heart condition and asthma, and Richardson readily acknowledged being overprotective of the 16-year-old who was the baby of her seven kids. In a statement released to CBS New York, Richmond County District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said his office takes any allegation of a hate crime seriously and is in communication with the NYPD.
Appearing on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show this morning, Mayor de Blasio said that while the parallels between this case and the 1986 case are striking, we shouldn’t rush to judgment. “I don’t know enough and the police don’t know enough yet”.
“I want justice for him”, she said.”Somebody should be held accountable”.
The mayor added, “We can not rush to judgment on this”. We need to know more. We do not take any bias crime lightly.
“I saw three black kids running down the block with a bunch of white kids chasing them, calling them “Crips, mother-ers, I’m gonna” kill you n–rs.’ They’re in their cars, saying, “I’m gonna” shoot that n–r, ‘” Fatigati told The Post.
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The NYPD is holding a press conference on the investigation in Staten Island this afternoon; we’ll have updates after that concludes.
