'HATE CRIME' - Witnesses Say Their Piece

Five witnesses to the alleged assault on April 18 of Luis Ochoa of Montauk held a press conference in that hamlet Monday night. As fog rolled in off the ocean, the witnesses gathered in the parking lot of the Montauk Movie theater on South Edgemere Road and read a written statement about the incident, then described what they had seen that night.

According to East Hampton Town police, Mr. Ochoa was assaulted by Mark Dombrowski of Montauk at around 7:30 p.m. on April 18 in front of a house on North Farragut Road in Montauk.

"Racial slurs were used [by Mr. Dombrowski] while the incident took place," according to Det. Sgt. Chris Anderson of the town police. The alleged combination of racial slurs and assault resulted in a hate crime charge of assault in the third degree. The charge is considered a misdemeanor, but if Mr. Dombrowski is convicted he will be sentenced under felony guidelines, according to Detective Anderson. He faces up to four years if convicted.

Police questioned Mr. Dombrowski the night of the incident, but he was not charged until April 29, after he returned from a family vacation outside the country.

Also attending the press conference, but not making any statement, was Michael O'Neill, chairman of the East Hampton Town Anti-Bias Task Force. He videotaped the press conference.

The witnesses, Luis Quichimbo, Sandra Mena, Aida Sanmartin, Isabel Berrezueta, and Ana Luperica, all are Montauk residents. On Monday night, Ms. Mena, who had been in the car with Mr. Ochoa before the alleged assault, gave a description of events that corresponded with the description Mr. Ochoa gave police.

Mr. Quichimbo translated what the others said from Spanish to English.

According to Ms. Mena, Mr. Dombrowski, who was driving a gray car, passed Mr. Ochoa's car on Flamingo Road so closely that Mr. Ochoa was forced to "dodge" his car. The driver of the gray car then proceeded to accelerate and brake suddenly in front of Mr. Ochoa, who then turned left onto North Farragut Road and pulled over in front of the house on the corner, where his friend Ms. Berrezueta lives.

Mr. Dombrowski, she said, turned right onto North Farragut, pulled his car over, crossed the street, approached Mr. Ochoa, and started beating him, all the while using insults and ethnic slurs, according to Ms. Mena.

The other witnesses, who were at Ms. Berrezueta's house for a choir practice, heard the noise, looked out an upstairs window, and saw Mr. Dombrowski hitting Mr. Ochoa, Ms. Mena said.

Mr. Quichimbo, Ms. Sanmartin, Ms. Berrezueta, and Ms. Luperica ran outside, according to Ms. Mena. Ms. Luperica said that by then Mr. Ochoa was on the ground and Mr. Dombrowski was kicking him. "Mr. Mark pushed him and started kicking him," Ms. Mena said.

Some of the witnesses tried to pull Mr. Dombrowski off Mr. Ochoa, Mr. Quichimbo said on Monday night. Once Mr. Ochoa was on his feet again, Mr. Quichimbo said, he tried to stand between the two men to stop the fighting.

"I was afraid because the other guy was really tall," Mr. Quichimbo said of Mr. Dombrowski. He said Mr. Dombrowski continued to use ethnic slurs and curses.

"We were all afraid and trembling from fear," Ms. Sanmartin said.

The statement written by the witnesses and handed out at the press conference stated: "What is very troubling to us is the subsequent account now put forward by Mr. Dombrowski and adopted by one newspaper as factually accurate." Mr. Ochoa said they were referring to The Independent, which published an interview with Mr. Dombrowski in May in which he disputed Mr. Ochoa's version of events.

In the interview Mr. Dombrowski said that Mr. Ochoa picked up a rock as Mr. Dombrowski approached him and that the subsequent contact between the two men was his effort to get the rock out of Mr. Ochoa's hand. In a letter to The East Hampton Star, Mr. Dombrowski wrote that Mr. Quichimbo "was not there to witness anything except me and Mr. Ochoa getting up off the ground after I disarmed him of a large stone with which he was about to strike me on the head."

The witnesses present on Monday night said they did not see a rock in Mr. Ochoa's hand that night.

Although the written statement that was handed out at the press conference referred to The Independent's coverage of the assault, no reporters from that paper were present. Mr. Ochoa said he did not know if reporters from The Independent had been invited. A reporter from Newsday and two photographers also attended.

One part of the statement said, "If Mr. Dombrowski admitted what occurred and expressed remorse, the entire community of Montauk, ourselves included, could embrace him in his need, assist him in making amends, and help him understand and better manage an anger of which he appeared obviously not in control."

Before the group parted, Ms. Mena said, again with Mr. Quichimbo translating, that the whole situation was sad and that she had never "seen a case like this" during her time in Montauk.