Police have arrested a 55-year-old man on hate crime charges after he allegedly called a Sikh man a terrorist and mowed him down with his pickup truck last month in Queens.
Prosecutors say Joseph Caleca and 29-year-old Sandeep Singh exchanged words July 30 in Richmond Hill because Singh's car door was blocking the street.
Police say Caleca called Singh a terrorist before allegedly hitting him with his truck. Caleca then dragged the victim several feet before fleeing.
He later dropped off the car at a repair shop in Baldwin on Long Island and called his insurance company from the shop to make a claim, according to the owner of the body shop. As he was leaving in his girlfriend's car, police arrived and arrested him.
Caleca, of Setauket, faces charges of attempted murder as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime. No information on a lawyer for him was available.
Singh was treated at Jamaica Hospital for abdominal and back injuries.
