23 Years for Racial Killing

A Bushwick man who bashed a Russian immigrant to death with a bat in a street brawl sparked by a racial slur was sentenced to 23-1/2 years to life in prison yesterday.

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The fight erupted when five Eastern European construction workers wandered into a largely black and Hispanic neighborhood to buy goods at a bodega.

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A year ago, five Hispanic men were originally arrested in the 1 a.m. incident, after they attacked the laborers outside the Knickerbocker Ave. shop.

At least three witnesses at the trial identified Torres as the attacker who beat Charnavus, striking him repeatedly in the head with a bat.

The deadly assault occurred after the assailants shouted, “What are you Polacks doing here?” and ordered the “Russian pigs” to get out of Bushwick, where the laborers went to buy beer after work, according to testimony.

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