College student attacked in apparent hate crime

Miguel Aranda Over the weekend, a Florida International University student was attacked in what authorities are labeling a hate crime. Stephen Barrett was one of the attendees at a keg party on an island near Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. As the party was wrapping up, some attendees were trying to catch a ride back to shore. On the way back, the boat’s driver noticed that the boat was overloaded and made his way back to shore.

This is where the problems started.

After making it back to shore, one of the suspects told Barrett, “Get of the boat, n***er.” Heated words were exchanged but, Barrett and two friends got off the boat and waited for another to come along.

By the time Barrett and his friends made it back to shore, the suspect lay in wait for them with baseball bats and they were attacked before they could react.

Here are more details:

Barrett was knocked into the Intracoastal, and several teens tried holding his head under water, according to police reports.

A man fishing nearby called police. Another partygoer ran off and flagged down Bal Harbour Officer Steve Goldberg, who was writing a traffic ticket on Collins Avenue.

”Upon my arrival, I observed approximately 10-15 subjects trying to leave the area in a hurry,” Goldberg wrote in his report. “There were three victims who were hit with bats and one victim was almost drowned . . . while also being beaten.”

Miami-Dade, Surfside, Sunny Isles Beach and Bay Harbor Islands officers also went to the scene.

A bloody baseball bat was taken as evidence. The arrests were made by detectives from Miami-Dade’s Intracoastal station.

The suspects and charges are as follows:

Miguel Aranda (pictured above), 18, and Gilberto Maakaroun, 17, were both charged with a hate crime, battery and attempted felony murder
Nicholas Checa, 15, and Marino Biondini, 17, were charged with a hate crime and battery
Jose Osorio, 21, was charged with aggravated battery and attempted felony murder.

Both Aranda and Osorio remain in jail.

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2 comments for “College student attacked in apparent hate crime”

anonymous , on the 26 of September, 2007 at 3:13 pm said:
It shouldn’t be necessary to call it a “hate crime” For the use of the N word..Majority of the teenagers in florida Use the N word not in terms of descrimnitaion, But as “homeboy” or “friend” also in anger manners, Not just because the person it’s afro-american, Me myself use that term with my friends and im a latina, I don’t use it just cause their black, I use it cause it’s a slang that has been around for years! I did not like the fact that they were that violent trying to drown the kid, but they will get their punishment, I went to school with all of those kids, I know them, I hang out with them at times, and it really gets me mad to see in the news how they are calling them “racists” . I don’t appreciate that!
JP Smith , on the 26 of September, 2007 at 3:32 pm said:
Honestly, you might want to research what the law states. In many states, if you use slurs while committing an act of violence against a person of another race, religion, sexual orientation, etc., it can be labeled a hate crime.

Secondly, I don’t think of that word as a term of endearment, especially if someone is using it in a menacing tone.

Finally, whether or not you “appreciate it” doesn’t matter much. The fact is that they appear to have assaulted and attempted to murder a person. Being labeled “racists” should be the least of their concerns.

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anonymous , on the 26 of September, 2007 at 3:13 pm said:

It shouldn’t be necessary to call it a “hate crime” For the use of the N word..Majority of the teenagers in florida Use the N word not in terms of descrimnitaion, But as “homeboy” or “friend” also in anger manners, Not just because the person it’s afro-american, Me myself use that term with my friends and im a latina, I don’t use it just cause their black, I use it cause it’s a slang that has been around for years! I did not like the fact that they were that violent trying to drown the kid, but they will get their punishment, I went to school with all of those kids, I know them, I hang out with them at times, and it really gets me mad to see in the news how they are calling them “racists” . I don’t appreciate that!

JP Smith , on the 26 of September, 2007 at 3:32 pm said:

Honestly, you might want to research what the law states. In many states, if you use slurs while committing an act of violence against a person of another race, religion, sexual orientation, etc., it can be labeled a hate crime.

Secondly, I don’t think of that word as a term of endearment, especially if someone is using it in a menacing tone.

Finally, whether or not you “appreciate it” doesn’t matter much. The fact is that they appear to have assaulted and attempted to murder a person. Being labeled “racists” should be the least of their concerns.