Breaking news: mutineer Mark, who has done an outstanding job of keeping the SM community apprised of the aftermath (or lack of) of Satender Singh’s vicious, senseless murder, points us to The Sacramento Bee, for news we have all been waiting for, about this hate crime:
A month after the death of a Fijian man on a river beach, Sacramento County Sheriff’s detectives have identified the man who allegedly threw the lethal punch and then fled the country, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Sheriff’s spokesman Tim Curran said that 29-year-old Andrey Vusik of West Sacramento is the key suspect in the July 1 assault on Satender Singh at Lake Natoma — an act of violence many of Singh’s friends and supporters say was fueled by homophobia and hate.
Singh was salaciously enjoying himself, by hanging out with his friends, hugging them, dancing around…you know, very gay activities. He should have known better than to hug people. Or dance.
Vusik was identified as a suspect from witness statements, according to Curran. Sheriff’s officials would not specify what country he fled to and said they do not know his precise whereabouts.
“We believe he’s out of the country and we’re working with the FBI to locate him,” Curran said.
Well, at least there’s this:
Vusik’s relatives here are cooperating with homicide detectives, Curran said.
A warrant for Vusik’s arrest on suspicion of manslaughter was issued July 27. It remained unclear Tuesday when or whether Vusik would return to California to face charges.
For those of us who wondered about whether it would be considered a hate crime:
Curran also said investigators have uncovered information — including statements made before Singh was punched — that could support a hate crime enhancement should the District Attorney’s Office decide to file that count.
Wait, there’s more:
Detectives have also questioned a second suspect connected to the assault: Aleksander Shevchenko, 21, also of West Sacramento. According to authorities, Shevchenko was also involved in the altercation. He was arrested late Monday on suspicion of intimidation, also a hate crime.
Satender died almost exactly a month ago, after being punched and then striking his head on the base of a picnic table so hard, he damaged his brain stem. The group which attacked Satender had been harassing him and his friends all day, for their ethnicity and their perceived sexual orientation. For shame.
::
UPDATE #2:
As those of you who have been participating in the comment thread below already know, The Sacramento Bee has another, more explosive article about this outrageous hate crime (Thanks, Amita):
About what the suspect would be charged with:
Vusik is charged with involuntary manslaughter rather than murder because the evidence does not show any intent to kill Singh, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement released Tuesday.
Singh’s family reacts:
But Tuesday’s action brought at least one family closer to a resolution.
“We are relieved that he will have justice,” said Singh’s uncle Camie Bhuie, “and we hope they can bring back the other culprit soon.”…
Singh’s friends and supporters have said the assault was fueled by homophobia and hate, coming after a string of racial slurs and anti-gay jibes allegedly made by a Russian-speaking group at the state park.
About the accused (who was identified in my original post, but I don’t mind naming shame again):
Homicide investigators say Vusik threw the lethal punch.
The West Sacramento man, whose wife and children remain in the area, is still at large in Russia, where he is being sought on a charge of involuntary manslaughter and committing a hate crime, said Sgt. Connie Merkins of the sheriff’s homicide bureau.
Here’s the best, and by best, I mean worst part of the article– he invokes “self-defense”:
In an interview with The Bee, Vusik’s wife, Tatyana, insisted he is innocent and acted in self-defense — not out of hate. She characterized Singh’s death as an accident..
The other suspect in the case, Shevchenko, surrendered voluntarily at his home Monday, according to Merkins. He is charged with intimidation and interfering with a victim’s rights, which is also a hate crime.
Wait- how many years would this hate-fueled criminal serve?
If convicted, Vusik could face a maximum of eight years in prison, while Shevchenko faces a maximum of three years. Shevchenko, who remained at the main jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, could not be reached Tuesday.
In the weeks since Singh’s death, Tatyana Vusik said she has struggled with the serious accusations that have clouded her family and the larger Slavic community. The crime, she said through a Russian translator, has become exaggerated in political circles. She said gay activists are trying to make an example of her husband, who she says is “a good man.“
This is Vusik’s version of what happened that day:
That day at Lake Natoma, Tatyana Vusik said she and her family were relaxing and enjoying the view…
It seemed like a pleasant afternoon, Tatyana Vusik said, until a neighboring party — which included Singh — grew raucous. She said the revelers were drinking alcohol, swearing loudly and dancing provocatively.
The mother said she then saw Singh leap onto a table, swishing his shirt between his legs. Others around him smashed bottles. She said she saw two men kissing.
That’s obviously worth killing someone over. I love that they chose to use the word, “swishing”. And am I the only one who finds it difficult to believe that they were breaking bottles? If you’re going to impugn a murder victim, at least come up with a better lie.
As several of you have pointed out, the following sentence is the most outrageous, hypocritical and disturbing.
“We’re a Christian family,” Tatyana Vusik said.
She said she asked her husband to tell Singh’s group to calm down, that there were children present.
Blame the victim! Blame the victim!
At that point, Tatyana Vusik said, the other group began attacking her family verbally, telling them to go back to Russia. She said the group cursed at her and her sister, Dasha Yakovchuk.
Someone needs to point out to this…person…that none of that justifies punching someone. Hey, look! More defamation:
Tatyana Vusik recalled that it was Singh who first mentioned “gay” as part of a crude sexual invitation apparently meant for her husband.
And how did her husband respond? That noble, brave, good-natured man tried to defuse the situation, with humor (and then his fist!):
She recalled that her husband said the atmosphere was growing tense, so he used the word “gay” as part of a joke.
She said neither she nor her husband is part of any anti-gay group or movement.
More shameless finger-pointing:
An earlier version of events from the Sheriff’s Department has confirmed that there was a confrontation between the two groups, but that the “Russian-speaking” group had hurled homophobic slurs at Singh and racial remarks at him and his friends, according to witness statements.
“That’s what they say, but they don’t know the truth,” Yakovchuk told The Bee in an interview Tuesday. “It was exactly the other way around.”
Tatyana recalled that after the exchange began, she, her sister and the children left the park. Her husband and Shevchenko and another friend stayed behind.
Why? Why did they stay behind, if their “families” were leaving what was supposed to be a pure Christian, “family outting”? To try and defuse the tension with more humor? Hmmm. Maybe they were going to pray for Satender, since he was going to hell for two reasons, instead of just one!!
Soft punch. SOFT PUNCH. That’s what comes next in this grossly offensive, poorly-concocted story:
When Vusik came home later that night, he told his wife there was a confrontation, and he acted in self-defense. She recalled that Vusik said Singh had lifted a broken glass bottle and aimed at him. He threw a “soft punch” and ran away, Tatyana Vusik said.
Soft enough to knock a man down and send him hurtling backwards until his head bounced off the base of a picnic table? That sort of “soft”?
This is important:
Sheriff’s detectives said there are no accounts from independent witnesses or any of Singh’s friends that support that account.
More bullshit:
Tatyana Vusik said her husband had no idea that Singh had died when he left in early July for a business trip exporting vehicles.
Obstruct justice much?
She refused to disclose her husband’s whereabouts, but said she has spoken with him at least twice a week since he left.
In their phone conversations, she said, Andrey Vusik has repeatedly expressed his condolences to Singh’s family. She said he is having a difficult time grasping the gravity of the crime.
Further bovine fecal matter spouting:
“We just got in the confrontation between the churches and the gay community; what happened was a tragic accident, and had nothing to do with gays,” she said through a translator.
Special place in hell, for anyone who helps cover up a crime; extra furnace points if it’s a hate crime, that’s all I’m sayin’.
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UPDATE #3:
Pictures of the accused, so you don’t have to create a login for the Sacramento Bee…
Andrey Vusik (thrower of the lethal punch):
Aleksandr Shevchenko:
Just to remind folks, this is what happened to Singh.
Is Vusik Desi also? So where exactly do they think he is, in Mexico or in India?
Sorry — didn’t read the whole post, Vusik is not desi.
Given his ethnic background, probably Russia
This is ridiculous. No one came forward immediately, no one made an arrest, and now the guy skipped the country? WTF!? I’m off to go bang my head against my brick wall.
I have no idea if the US has any ability or will to extradite folks from Lithuania, or some other Russian republic. I’m guessing they won’t be particularly cooperative. Maybe somebody should have a nice radioactive meal with him.
It’s too bad that the muslim angle isn’t involved. They seem to be able to catch Muslim fugitives fairly easily and bring them to justice.
The fact that it is Protestant churches (and, if I remember the old linked articles correctly, the acting police chief in the area) spouting this anti-gay hate, is surely not a factor in increasing pressure on the relevant authorities to put some ‘mustard’ on the search effort.
As the country is getting more conservative and rights (especially those of crime victims) eroding away slowly, I only see hate crimes like these increasing.
This is such a tragedy and I hope justice prevails soon.
if the country’s becoming more conservative, wouldn’t the rights of crime victims increase, while the rights of the accussed decrease?
If you are an Indian from Fiji, you are used to not getting justice.
It’s nothing new for us.
We come to this country, thinking it’ll somehow be different… 🙁
Accordiung to the article, he can be sentenced to only 8 years for manslaughter. THis is where Hate Crime legislation could be useful, I guess. When you use brass knuckles to punch a guy, you have to have some kind of expectation that you are committing serious harm, if not death. This is where a standard manslaughter should be elevated. This guy could repeat this kind of crime as it was not an isolated instance. If he got riled up someone just looking gay, he could have easily repeated this crime some other time because this was not an isolated instance between him and some specific guy. 1) How come only 2 guys are identified? THere should be more arrests and it is obvious more than two were involved in a coverup. 2) How come there was no sketch all this time? Maybe he would have been caught if he was identified by features. There were enough witnesses to give a detailed enough description. 3) The guy’s family is cooperating NOW??? The sgt. actually says she talked to him and sounds like his PR person. 4) THe victim family should sue everyone involved in the coverup. Not much money would be there, but it would be nice to see all these enablers suffer. Their American dream should become their American Nightmare.
More from the SacBee article: “Merkins said the sheriff’s department is working with the FBI to find Vusik and extradite him from Russia.
“We actually talked to him by telephone on Sunday,” she said. “He said this has scared the hell out of him – that his friends told him he was looking at 25 years in prison. He said he was willing to come back, but he said he didn’t deserve 25 years.'”
So they’ve talked to the guy??? Agreed with Pravin, something does seem a little odd here. I’m glad that the Sheriff recognizes this as a hate crime and the suspects will be charged as such. Still, 8 years and 3 years/$25,000 bail hardly seems justice for killing an innocent man.
Okay, at 6pm, that article looked totally different, which is why I didn’t include the important information Amita was helpful enough to mention– looks like they updated the link at 8:01…or 11:01. Hmmm. I’ll check for more updates tomorrow, and change the post accordingly. Please feel free to point me towards more articles, this story is important.
It’s disgusting that the police are making it seem like the desis contributed to the escalation by defending themselves verbally
Was he murdered because he was gay or because he was not white ? Would they have killed a white gay guy ? Or a straight desi ? I shudder to imagine the mental state of a homophobe in a prison ?
Is there some way we can increase pressure on the investigation?
Muralimannered raises a good point. One should ask the cops are they so incompetent that if this was a muslim terrorist who tried to attack a group of US Citizens and got away in a couple of vehicles after staying at a place for an entire day, tons of witnesses on the other side but afraid to talk because they dont want to mess with terrorists, will they be this helpless in nabbing the terrorists? And will the terrorist be able to flee the country to Saudi Arabia so easily? Or would the local cops just cede the investigation to the feds and they sshould not be expected to be good enough to nab such a suspect in time?
melbourne desi, in cases like this it could always be both. They could be homophobic AND racist (not impossible), although perhaps one factor or another drove them to thinking that it was a) ok to brutalize this poor man, and b) that they could get away with it.
Amen, although the federal angle would mean that these cases are not entirely analogous. The broader question is, would this have happened if he was not a brown immigrant?
“We actually talked to him by telephone on Sunday,” she said. “He said this has scared the hell out of him – that his friends told him he was looking at 25 years in prison. He said he was willing to come back, but he said he didn’t deserve 25 years.'”
I am speechless. I am literally without speech.
Although this would normally be a gratuitous tangent, as well as a tactless, even callously obtuse observation given the tragic circumstances – since the subject has come up – he totally looks like someone who could pass as a white person, even on a bad day in Central California. I would very much doubt if the ‘brownness’ was the main, or driving, motivation to violence in his case. Even more, it would be difficult to prove premeditation in terms of intent to kill, but someone has probably made that point already.
Thanks, chachaji. Perhaps I ought to rephrase. I am not arguing that he was targeted because he is brown and an immigrant, but I’m simply wondering, out loud, if this debacle of an investigation would have proceeded similarly if his demographic characteristics were different. I don’t think that’s an adequate excuse, but it’s hard to understand how this investigation could unravel in this way without presuming a) that there are extenuating circumstances, or b) that the police department is wholly incompetent. I would like to assume (a), personally.
As an aside, I seriously doubt that he could “pass,” particularly in the Central Valley, but as you mentioned that is neither here nor there at this point.
There in lies the issue. Terrorism is handled differently in terms of law enforcement and extradition. I’m pretty sure this murder is not defined as a terrorist act in the eyes of LE.
To me he has somewhat of a resemblance to Rob Pilatus.
I agree with Camille, he doesn’t look like he could have passed as white to me. The motivation could have been based on both his race and/or his sexual orientation. Without knowing the perpetrator, there’s no way we can answer this right now.
The motivation could have been based on both his race and/or his sexual orientation. Without knowing the perpetrator, there’s no way we can answer this right now.
It seems, too, from how it happened that the murdered read the ‘brown things’ Singh was doing (dancing, being more physically affectionate with his friends than straight Americans or Russians are conditioned to be) as ‘gay things’ and attacked accordingly. I guess that makes it slightly more about homophobia? I wonder, would he have attacked a French man whose demeanor he perceived as being ‘gay’?
The police response is just sickening…
I referenced the Dhanak case in my earlier comment as i meant to allude to the fact that a brown suspect was apprehended promptly in flight–not that because authorities think ‘brown sometimes equals terrorist,’ this Russian fellow was not caught in the same fashion.
both were murders, although one was definitely premeditated, and I thought it a worthy comparison of police response.
Thanks Camille and Amitabh – just one clarificatory comment – though this is still a tangent. Whiteness is also a contingent category, and non-phenotypic indicators can sometimes affect perception – so I suppose it is possible that the police may have seen him as clearly ‘non-white’, after being told his name and national origin – while on appearance, he could visually ‘pass’ in a public situation. And of course, it isn’t just skin color alone – though that is the main thing in most people’s minds – but the eye color, ear shape, lip thickness, etc that all ’tilt the balance’, and go into any visual confirmation of ‘race’ – for anyone, not just in his case. He might not have ‘passed’ in, say, South Carolina, or anywhere that the ‘one-drop’ crapola rules – though even there he might have garnered a tiny bit of presumption of ‘whiteness’, but in California, race is more fuzzy than it is elsewhere, so that’s why I thought he might pass there.
All that said, it’s still a bit of a tangent, so not planning to comment any further on this angle.
re: Satender’s mostly irrelevant ability to pass, you might want to also see the picture Abhi used, when SM originally covered this story.
Looks like a new/updated article was put up, on the front page: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/314370.html
It’s an interview with Vusik’s wife, claiming that the desi group provoked the attack. Some colorful excerpts: “The mother said she then saw Singh leap onto a table, swishing his shirt between his legs. Others around him smashed bottles. She said she saw two men kissing. “We’re a Christian family,” Tatyana Vusik said. … In their phone conversations, she said, Andrey Vusik has repeatedly expressed his condolences to Singh’s family. She said he is having a difficult time grasping the gravity of the crime. “We just got in the confrontation between the churches and the gay community; what happened was a tragic accident, and had nothing to do with gays,” she said through a translator.”
SO, Singh and his friends started the incident because they’re gay, but killing him was just an accident and had nothing to do with homophobia. And Vusik didn’t do aything wrong but fled the country and won’t turn himself in.
What still gets me is the manslaughter/murder charge. As some of the SacBee comments have pointed out, if a police officer is assaulted and later dies, the suspect is often charged with murder. Apparently “intent to kill” is subjective? For example, (http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4405492) 4 people lead an officer on a chase, resulting in a crash and death of a SF police officer. 3 suspects were charged with murder. Did these suspects have any more of an intent to kill the cop than the suspects who beat up Mr. Singh?
I think that gets to me more than anything else in the article. “Thou shalt not kill” is a commandment.
Last time I checked, murder was a sin.
The facts of this case are aggravating on some many levels, I don’t know where to begin.
In response to #9, I have observed everyone’s rights, including crime victims, are ebbing away.
I think the family has confessed enough to charge them with obstruction of justice regardless of their delayed cooperation. I do not practice law. So can someone help us what the possiblities are? Would the act of running away and driving away be part of being complicit in a crime. Supposedly some of the people threw stuff back at the Indians. I am going to assume that it could have also included people other than the two charged. They could be charged with obstruction of justice.
To Mrs Vusick: Shut the fuck up.
Other questions 1) Initially, i thought it was a bunch of young Russian thugs who outran the Indians. Now it seems like it was a family gathering for these Russians. And these lameass Indian friends could not catch up to a group of families running away and get a better license plate description? Surely, the women and kids couldn’t have gotten away that fast.
2) http://cbs13.com/local/local_story_186232137.html I looked at this link and other links. Not a single Indian friends has stood up and boldly stood up to help out with their dead friend’s case. Not one Indian is in this clip. Even the grandmother was scared and can be seen in another clip talking in shadows because of fear which tells me she wasn’t reassured of support from the friends. Why the fuck does our community have to perpetuate a reputation of wimps? For me, the Indian friends are just as big a story. If something similar ever happens to me, I hope I am surrounded by a better class of people.
3) Meanwhile you got the accused’s family boldly going on tv and showing no remorse at all. Sue these bastards. Ruin them.
4) THe cops have the audacity to praise themselves as doing “good ole gumshoe work” . Idiots, if you show this incompetence in all areas, terrorists can come to Sacramento and wreak havoc since you are so incompetent at nabbing murderers despite the presence of a lot of witnesses. It took them a few weeks to get this done. THis was a freaking family that went out. We all could guess that the name is probably going to be Slavic/Russian. THey could have looked up all the local owners of the identified model and narrowed it down faster. If they can’t , that does not bode well of the integration of local law enforcement with federal databases for crimes. I thought the whole point of Homeland Security was to improve this area.
5) But it could just be the cops didn’t care as much?
6) THe pictures of the accused look just like I expected. I am no expert, but i would have thought such faces would have been easy for a sketch artist to do based on witness decriptions.
Mrs. Vusick. Again, Shut the fuck up.
On the good side, this was labeled a hate crime or as stated on the warrant “intimidating and interfering with victim’s rights” and the story is back on Sacramento Bee newspaper page one and the lead item on tv news locally here in Sacramento.
And the witnesses did get video. You can see brief excerpts of the video at http://www.fox40.com (search video for news report “8/7 – Attacker Arrested”). Very chilling to see Satendar Singh prior to the attack.
If the perpetrator gets 8 years prison sentence he may be out in 4 years, in California currently prisoners are serving reduced sentences with good behavior.
Here is what I’m thinking now: We must be vigilant against hate crime to protect ourselves. Use the tools we have: descriptions, license plates, our cell phones and cameras to document hate crime and report it to the authorities.
I have collected and posted media and Internet references to this case at my web site http://www.outsacramento.com
Best regards,
Mark
This story is so sad and so distubring on so many levels. The ineptitude of the Sacto police is mind-boggling!
AGREED! Do “Christian” values mean it’s ok to murder someone because you believe their perceived sexual preference is wrong??!???
No.
i don’t even think her comments on the incident are relevant to the issue of his guilt – by her own admission, she had no first-hand knowledge what happened after she left the park, and has only heard the account of her husband (who seems to have a lot to lose by telling the truth). the woman should just keep quiet, to put it nicely.
I was struck by this, too.
“Satender Singh’s vicious, senseless murder”
Involuntary manslaughter is very different from murder. It’s not easy to prove or convince that a punch means to kill. Despite a comment up post, I didn’t see anything in articles that said the puncher wore brass knuckles, rather it seems singh fell back from a punch, following a mutual altercation, and ruptured his brain stem on a picnic table. That’s an assault and accident. Furthermore the “racial remarks” remain unspecified. Hate crimes are weird because they are effectively thought crimes. I’m not convinced this wasn’t just a big jerk who threw a drunk punch and Singh was not a small guy either.
Further, there seems to be a notion here the idea that gay people are pure victims that would never start fights in the midst of cavorting and drinking. Not only is this stereotypical, but it’s wrongly stereotypical. I’m sorry for the fellow that died, but unconvinced that the crime was more than manslaughter or worthy of an international manhunt. And that a mother doesn’t want her kid to go to jail might not go down with some of you holier than thous, but I would hate to be your kid.
I thought I read in some link when the first report came about that the guy had brass knuckles on. If I am wrong, my apologies.
Also, do any of the videos show the accused? I still do not understand why it took this long to identify the guys.
I think the article I linked in the “update” has pictures of both of them, if you click some sort of “more images” link or similar.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/314370.html#more_images
…but I’ll try and update this post with the images, b/c the Bee is so annoying, requiring “logging in” etc.
noblekinsman, you make some valid points. Satender did not deserve to be punched (much less killed) but he may have very well played some role in provoking the altercation. If I was at a public park in broad daylight with my kids and a group of drunk gay guys was dancing and kissing, I wouldn’t be too thrilled either. The only difference is I wouldn’t hit them or probably even approach them…I’d take my family and leave.
Anna, I meant if the videos taken before the incident showed the accused at any point. I still do not understand why the police didn’t get an account from Singh’s friends that was as detailed as the one given by the wife. It’s too bad the wife’s account is probably 75% bullshit.
noblekinsman, regardless of whether he used brass knuckles or whether the victim died because he fell and severed his spinal cord during the attack, there was clearly an assault, and the assault was motivated by hatred, hence the hate crime joinder. If the attacker used brass knuckles, the only thing that changes is motive and the strength of his crime. There is nothing on this thread that says that members of the LGBT community are intrinsically victims; however, in the case of this story, it is clear that Mr. Singh was just that.
Mark, thanks as always for keeping us updated.
Of course, Satender may have been just quietly hanging out with his friends…I do realise that Vusic’s story needs to be taken with a large bucket of salt.
Oops. 🙂 Well, now we have pictures, thanks to my misunderstanding you.
Maybe they aren’t releasing those details, as part of their meticulous, gummy-shoed efforts? So it won’t compromise the investigation? Can you tell I watch too much Law and Order: SVU? 😉
It is a public park, and if your morality is offended by people well within the law and minding their own business, they are not playing any role in provoking the altercation. It is your prerogative to react as you suggest, but it is not correct to call his behavior provocative.
provocation as a defense has to have some element of objective reasonableness (and depending on the locality, perhaps a subjective element as well)
Well, yes, Vusic was entirely in the wrong. Even according to his version of the story, HE approached THEM and told them to keep it down. So right there he made his first mistake.