2 charged with racist election attack

NEW YORK, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Two young white men have been charged with an election-night assault in New York City on a teenage immigrant from Liberia, yelling "Obama" as they hit him.

Ralph Nicolleti and Bryan Garaventa, both 18, allegedly attacked Ali Kamara, 17, as he walked to his home on Staten Island the night Democrat Barack Obama was elected the United States' first black president, the New York Daily News reported. Police announced the arrests Saturday and said they were being charged with a hate crime.

Kamara told police he heard the yell "Obama" and then felt something blunt crashing down on his head. Investigators believe he was hit with a baseball bat, although they said no weapon had been recovered.

"Thank God, praise be to God," his mother, Janeba Lapedo, told the News after learning of the arrests. "Let justice be done. They have to pay for what they did to my son."

Nicolletti's mother insisted her son is innocent.

"My son's not prejudiced," Laura Nicolleti said. "He has black friends."

In another incident, vandals painted swastika and anti-Obama graffiti in a Staten Island neighborhood a week after the election.