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Man Pleads Guilty In Hate Crime Stabbing Of Black Teenager In 2020
Robert McCallion's stabbing of a Black teenager, who survived the attack, was "brutal, despicable and cowardly," according to the Westchester County DA's Office.
A New York man pleaded guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime and other felony charges in the brutal stabbing of a black teenager in March of last year.
Robert McCallion, who is white, used racial slurs as he stabbed the victim multiple times at an apartment complex in Ossining. The teen, who survived the attack, was visiting family. She and McCallion, now 36, did not know each other, according to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
“This was a brutal, despicable and cowardly attack by Robert McCallion on an innocent young woman because of the color of her skin.” Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said in a statement. “Hate crimes such as this not only traumatize the victim, but the community as well, and will be prosecuted aggressively by this Office.”
McCallion pleaded guilty to 14 felony charges on Sept. 9, including two counts of assault in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree as a hate crime and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
Ossining Police said they arrested McCallion after he was found in the parking lot of the apartment complex with blood on his hands and clothes.
The knife McCallion used to stab the victim was also found at the scene, police said.
While searching the apartment that McCallion shared with his father, police recovered multiple weapons, including two loaded assault weapons in his bedroom, according to the DA's statement.
“They were laid out as if someone may have intended to use the,” Ossining Police Chief Kevin Sylvester told local cable station News 12 last year. He also told the station that McCallion was acting strange in the days leading up to the attack and that they were called to his apartment several times.
Police found the victim, who has not been identified, bleeding profusely with stab wounds to the face and back, inside the apartment building with her family. She was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery.
The victim’s father told WCBS-TV in August of 2020 that she continues to grapple with the aftermath of the attack.
“The mental and physical scarring that last after a violent crime, that never goes away,” Chief Sylvester told the station.
McCallion also pleaded guilty to assaulting a nurse on March 15, two days after attacking the teen, according to the district attorney.
McCallion is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 16. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
