NO ADDED CHARGES

Grand jury finds no evidence beating was racially motivated

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A Nassau County Grand Jury returned a “no true bill” on allegations that a Latino man assaulted in Long Beach in October was a racially-motivated crime.

Fernando Moreno, 26, said African-American teens uttered racial slurs as they kicked and beat him when he was walking in the North Park section of Long Beach on Oct. 14. Three of the teens were arrested and charged with assault, but last month the Nassau County District Attorney’s office considered upgrading the charges and presented its finding to a grand jury.

Long Beach Police Department said that Moreno never indicated to the detectives that originally interviewed him that the assault was a biased-related. But before the subjects were charged, the LBPD were told by members of the Long Beach branch of Circulo de la Hispanidad indicating they thought the beating was racially-motivated.

The grand jury concluded that there were no facts to support the allegation, and as a result no additional charges were brought against the defendants. The case is now scheduled to return to Long Beach City Court for prosecution by the D.A.’s office.