Crime, Yes, Hate, No

Everyone's reacting to the story of a man arrested for a hate crime - throwing a Koran in a toilet at Pace University. But the Newsday piece leaves out an item and I don't know why.

It's in this story. I'm against hate crimes legislation as a rule. And if someone wants to toss their copy of a Koran, or a Bible in the toilet, go for it. But if you lift same from someone else and then do it, you are indeed guilty of a crime. Spare me the hate crime, but I have no problem with him being arrested. Frankly, he sounds more like a nut, than anything else.

The 10-month-old mystery of who threw the Koran into the toilets at Pace University's Manhattan campus was solved yesterday with the arrest of a student, cops said.

Stanislav Shmulevich, 23, was confronted by detectives with a surveillance photo of himself leaving a Pace meditation room where the Muslim holy books were stored, police sources said.

He made "admitting statements" after seeing the photograph, a source said.

The suspect's roommate in Gravesend, Brooklyn, said she was stunned by the charges.

"It's impossible. He was defending the Koran," said Ola Petrovich, 24, an online saleswoman. "We had that conversation. He said, 'Don't criticize the Koran if you haven't read it.'

"Why would he do something so stupid?"

Shmulevich is suspected in two bias incidents at the school last fall.

On Oct. 13, a teacher discovered a paperback Koran in a toilet in a second-floor bathroom. On Nov. 21, a student found a submerged Koran in the same bathroom, cops said.

The suspect is a Ukrainian immigrant who moved to the U.S. as a boy. He's been splitting time between his Brooklyn flat and his parents' Staten Island home, and works at a European banking firm, Petrovich said.

Shmulevich was a senior at the university when he took "a break" only a few credits shy of a degree in international business, the roommate said.

"He read the Koran," she continued. "He was telling me, 'You should read it.' He's Jewish, but he's theologically sound. Both his parents are ballistic over this."

The suspect's father, Edward Shmulevich, 55, said he hadn't spoken to his son yet about the charges.

"He's a good son," the father said. "He's a hard worker and he's about to graduate from college. He works full time at night and then he goes to school. I'm surprised, utterly surprised. I don't know what happened."

Shmulevich was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on hate crime charges for criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, officials said.

Comments

[Lala]

Well, Newsday got it from AP New York.

The problem is that they left it up in the air as to who the book belonged to. Now that we know he stole it, it changes the whole story.

I'm sure the NYCLU will set everything right.

[bloodrage bob]

what's this "crime, yes" shit? someone throwing a koran in the toilet is a **crime**?

my ass it is. if you want to call it the "crime" of "damaging public plumbing", that's one thing. but i rather doubt that's the point here. since it's not a crime to toiletize a bible; or a talmud; or a civics textbook...

then being mean to a koran is no crime either. anyone who says it IS ... has just stepped onto the slippery, neverending slope of appeasing the muslims. just like they do over in europe. hey, how's that working out for them??

[Purple Avenger]

Ordinary petty theft followed up by a 1984 style thought crime.

[seekeronos]

Crime: tossing books down the toilet, resulting in damage to public and/or private plumbing.

Not a crime: having a profound disrespect for the "holy" Koran.

So yeah... because it happened to be a "holy" Koran, and not a King James Bible, or a copy of the Torah, or a Catholic Missal... it is elevated into the exalted status of being a hate crime.

I bet that it he had flushed Bibles down the toilet, (a) the press would not have said a thing about it... and (b) the college would have likely charged him with criminal trespass or vandalism, and not a "hate" crime.

Feh. Double Standards: ya know I love them (not).

[Fred Beloit]

From the link: "Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the national CAIR office in Washington, D.C., has said the organization receives frequent reports of Quran desecrations in the United States, especially postings on Internet sites, but seldom makes them public.

He said CAIR decided to speak out about the Pace incidents because Muslim students are impacted by the creation of what could be viewed as a hostile campus environment."

If CAIR is against it, I'm for it. If they are for it, I'm against it. Hate crime = thought crime. I'm against all legislation of this nature. It is political pandering plain and simple. Here is another report of a hate crime for CAIR to report: If I owned a Kur'an now I would stick it in the toilet. Why? Because this is a free country and I can do what I want to express myself with my own property.

[daddyquatro]

So the crimes are...
Stealing two paperback books: AKA shoplifting.
Throwing them in a toilet: AKA petty vandalism.
He was jailed for 24 hours and is being charged with felonies!
I got my paperback copy of the Koran from a used books store. It probably cost me $5.
I'm looking for a used toilet for my next great work of art.
I think I'll call it "Flush Muhammed."

[SITA - ACTION]

A site propose an action against this ridiculous situation of dhimmitude. Have a stamp ? Have a minute ? Action ! (click on my nick name for more)

[Fred Beloit]

Good show Sita, you can count me in.

[beenherebefore]

AMEN

What a joke- people can burn flags and that is constitutionally covered but flush their work of fiction down the toilet and its automatically a hate crime. The student is jewish, so automatically "it must be hate crime"

Why arent these people so offended when there is a beheading? or children blown up? Get your priorities in order people wake up

[skh.pcola]

Ibrahim Hooper said: "...the organization receives frequent reports of Quran desecrations in the United States, especially postings on Internet sites, but seldom makes them public."

Anybody else doubt the veracity of that? Hooper is a publicity hog, and squeals like a stuck pig over any little slight--perceived or real--to his stone-age cult. I call BS.

[JJJosedph]

Hey, how do you know the koran was stolen? Most of these student muslim places give away FREE korans. They get them from Saudi Arabia. I'm not defending the guy, but in this case he'd only be guilty of being a nuisance for bunging up the toilet.