Teens In Sunset Park Mosque Attack May Have Sexually Assaulted Man’s Girlfriend

Yesterday, the New York Post reported the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is investigating allegations that the two teens who were beaten outside a Sunset Park mosque sexually assaulted their attacker’s girlfriend. But a Brooklyn DA spokesperson told the Sunset Park Voice Thursday it has no knowledge of those allegations.

According to the Post, the probe was launched after the unnamed woman said the teens “taunted” and “molested” her when her boyfriend, Christopher Vallaro, 31, ran to her rescue from his apartment located next to the mosque.

The attack followed nightly services during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Muslim Community Center of Brooklyn (5224 3rd Ave.), at around 1:15 a.m. on July 3, police said. Vallaro left the boys with swelling, lacerations, and bruising to the face and head, according to police. One of the boys fell unconscious, and both were transported to a nearby hospital, witnesses said.

Photos of the 16 and 17-year-old’s battered faces quickly surfaced over social media spurring anger amongst the Muslim community after Vallaro called the teens, “f—king terrorists.”

An NYPD spokesperson told us the boys initiated the “dispute” by approaching a car and making comments about the attire of the Vallaro’s girlfriend who “was provocatively dressed.”

Vallaro surrendered to the NYPD’s 72nd Precinct on July 6 with his attorney and was charged with assault, menacing, and harassment, according to the Brooklyn DA’s office.

Police said the attack wasn’t classified as a hate crime because the incident was triggered by the victims’ actions towards Vallaro’s girlfriend, and the anti-Muslim comments came in the heat of the moment.

However, the chief prosecutor for hate crimes at the Brooklyn DA’s office spoke to detectives, signaling the case might be reevaluated, sources told the New York Daily News.

The Post also notes that investigators at the Brooklyn DA office have scheduled a meeting with Vallaro and his girlfriend to review accusations that the teens reached over a car window to grope her breasts and body, according to sources, but a Brooklyn DA spokesperson told us the office was not aware of it.

During a Wednesday court appearance, Vallaro’s defense attorney Sal Strazzullo submitted 20 letters, mostly from Muslim-Americans, in Vallaro’s defense, the Post reported.

“I’m glad that the District Attorney’s office is taking a look at the entirely of the situation, and not just what the alleged victims said happened,” Strazzullo said in the report.

Note: We contacted Vallaro’s defense attorney Sal Strazzullo who has not responded in time for publication. We will update the post as we know more.