https://www.change.org/p/district-attorney-richard-a-brown-of-queens-county-drop-all-charges-against-qingyou-li
Please sign the petition above by the Coalition Seeking Justice for Qingyou Li.
Coalition member organizations include OCA-NY Asian Pacific American Advocates, North America Chinese Calligraphy Association, Chinese Mountain Club of New York, New York Chinese Opera Society, Bodhi Foundation, MinKwon Center for Community Action, and Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York.
Story in English & Chinese below:
Please sign the petition above by the Coalition Seeking Justice for Qingyou Li.
Coalition member organizations include OCA-NY Asian Pacific American Advocates, North America Chinese Calligraphy Association, Chinese Mountain Club of New York, New York Chinese Opera Society, Bodhi Foundation, MinKwon Center for Community Action, and Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York.
Story in English & Chinese below:
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We demand that all criminal charges be dropped against Mr. Qingyou Li, a well-known and respected 64 year old monolingual Chinese man who is a retired calligraphy teacher. He has taught calligraphy to countless students and given many community service talks at the Flushing Library. Stricken with glaucoma, Mr. Li has lost most of his vision in his left eye.
On December 14, 2014, Mr. Li was walking alone on a sidewalk in Flushing when he accidentally tripped over a dog’s leash, causing the dog to bark. Mr. Li attempted to apologize, but the young man with the dog began cursing at Mr. Li and an altercation ensued. Mr. Li claims the taller and bigger young man struck him in his left eye and continued to beat him, shoving him into a nearby fence and forcing him to his knees. As Mr. Li was trying to prevent injury to his good eye (the right eye), a young woman who was with the man bit Mr. Li's hand. Mr. Li instinctively swung his hand back to keep the young woman away from him, but the young woman claims Mr. Li struck her in the face. Mr. Li asserts she then kicked him in his head and body, while the man continued to beat him. Both EMS and the police arrived, but they did not provide Mr. Li with an interpreter. Mr. Li called his brother-in-law who is an American-born Caucasian, fluent in both English and Mandarin, to relay Mr. Li's account of what transpired. However, the commanding officer refused to allow him to translate in full Mr. Li’s story. Despite Mr. Li's account and the visible injuries to Mr. Li's eyes, face, shoulder, leg, and hand, the commanding officer ordered Mr. Li to be arrested. At the precinct, Mr. Li was detained for two hours, during which time, no interpreter was provided and no explanation given as to why he was arrested. Charged with assault, Mr. Li was given a desk appearance ticket to appear in court on January 9, 2015. On December 16, 2014, Mr. Li went three times with an interpreter to Precinct 109 to bring a criminal complaint against the young man and woman which was his right to do, but each time he went he was told he could not file a complaint. It was only after the incident was reported to elected officials, that Mr. Li was finally allowed to to file a complaint on December 20, 2014. A grave injustice has been done to Mr. Li. We demand that all charges against Mr. Li be dropped immediately. |
為李慶友先生討回公道
我們要求撤銷對李慶友先生的所有刑事控告. 李先生今年64歲, 是一位非常受到尊重的退休書法老師,曾多次在法拉盛圖書館主持書法的講座. 現因為患青光眼疾, 他的左眼已基本失明。 2014年12月14日晚飯後, 李先生在家附近散步.在經過紐約法拉盛137街時, 無意中碰上一條拉狗的繩子, 狗叫了起來. 李先生馬上道歉, 但是那位男性狗主人卻對李先生大罵。據李先生陳述，那個又高又大的年輕男子先一拳打到他的左眼上, 隨之拳打腳踢他的身體. 那男子把他推到路邊的欄杆上，迫使他跪到地上。 當李先生試圖保護他那隻好的眼睛（右眼）時， 和男子在一起的年輕女子一口咬住李先生的手. 在一種自然反應下, 李先生用力掙脫被咬的手, 那女子即宣稱李先生打到她的臉。 據李先生陳述，當那男子繼續毆打他時，那女子同時踢他的頭部和身體。救護人員和警察到來後，他們都沒有為李先生提供翻譯。 李先生打電話給他妹夫（ 一個美國出生英文和中文都流利的白人）來為他翻譯。但是，當時的那位指揮警官拒絕李先生的妹夫為李先生翻譯整個事件。 不顧李先生眼, 臉, 肩，手, 和腿上的傷，這位指揮警官下令逮捕李先生。 在警察局裡， 李先生被拘留大約兩個小時，既沒有得到翻譯的援助, 也沒有得到任何關於逮捕他的解釋。 最後李先生得到一張書面傳票，被指控犯有攻擊他人罪，要求於2015年1月9日上庭. 在 12月16日, 李先生曾三次在翻譯的陪同下來到109分局要求立案控告毆打他那兩個年輕人，但是每次警局都拒絕立案。 當這件事反映到一些議員那裏后，李先生最終在12月20日才得以行使他的權利去刑事控告攻擊他的那兩個人. 在這個事件中，李先生受到非常不公平的待遇. 我們要求立即撤銷對李先生的所有控訴 |
