Black Students Attack White Man for Dining With Black Cop

At least one Skidmore College student is being charged with a hate crime after he and a group of three others allegedly attacked a white man after they saw him dining at a local restaurant with a black man. All four students are reportedly black or Hispanic.

Justin Tavarez stands accused of a hate crime after shouting racial epithets and leading the assault on Christopher McCarthy as he sat inside a Saratoga Springs restaurant in December. McCarthy's dinner companion and friend, George Parker, is black. According to news reports, Tavarez and his accomplices waited until Parker, an off-duty police officer, got up to use the restroom and ambushed McCarthy, throwing him against the wall, striking him with a chair and even breaking a dish over the man's head.

Police also say the group hurled racial epithets at Parker and Tavarez asked why a black man was sitting with a white man.

Tavarez was freed from jail after posting a $5,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 1 to answer to his felony charges of second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal mischief, both as hate crimes.

His accomplices -- Elijah A. Johnston, 18; Korvin E. Vincente, 19; and Sakhile C. Sithole, 20 -- have each been charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault and will appear in court this week.