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Parks Department employee charged with hate crime – Metro US

Parks Department employee charged with hate crime

Police arrested a New York City Parks Department employee Wednesday night and charged him with committing a disturbing hate crime in December.

Bronx resident Fariz Ahmemulic, 28, is accused of hanging a black baby-doll from a metal chain noose in the Parks Department’s Bronx headquarters.

Police say Ahmemulic hung the doll in the building’s garage on December 20. When Parks Dept. employee Anthony Crum found it, he said he was traumatized by the discovery, and has since filed a $15 million discrimination lawsuit against the city.

Crum alleges in the lawsuit that Ahmemulic admitted to the crime immediately and Parks Dept. managers delayed in reporting it.

Weeks went by before police were able to make an arrest in connection with the crime.

“We are gratified that an arrest has been made in this case, but regret that the suspect is a fellow employee,” a parks department spokesman told Metro today.

Ahmemulic has been suspended without pay, said the spokesman.

Ahmemulic was charged with aggravated harassment and aggravated harassment as a hate crime. The Parks Department is also conducting their own investigation of the incident.