Attorney For East Hampton Teenage Road Rage Victim Calls For Hate Crime Investigation, Files Civil Suit

An attorney for the Springs teenager who was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery after being strangled and body-slammed in an apparent fit of road rage is asking that the case be investigated as a hate crime because the assailant uttered a racial epithet during the assault.

David Peralta-Mera’s attorney, Edmond Chakmakian, said he will ask for hate crime charges to be added to the two felonies already filed against 31-year-old Charles Streep following the August 24 assault in an East Hampton Village parking lot.

“We believe he was targeted at least partly because of his ethnicity,” Mr. Chakmakian said of Mr. Peralta-Mera, who is a U.S. citizen but was born in Ecuador. “Based on the level of violence and hatred and because he was spewing racial epithets, we are asking that this be investigated as a hate crime.”

Mr. Chakmakian said that Mr. Peralta-Mera suffered brain damage from his injuries and will file a civil suit against Mr. Streep, who is the nephew of actress Meryl Streep, for both compensatory and punitive damages. His client’s medical bills are already more than $100,000 and “he’ll have a lot more ahead of him,” Mr. Chakmakian said.

According to police reports of the incident, Mr. Peralta-Mera and his girlfriend were pulling onto The Circle from Montauk Highway in East Hampton Village on August 24 just as Mr. Streep was attempting to turn onto the highway. The two cars almost collided and the drivers exchanged words, after which Mr. Streep reversed his vehicle and followed Mr. Peralta-Mera’s into Chase Bank parking lot, police said.

Mr. Peralta-Mera’s girlfriend said that Mr. Streep, a former lacrosse player for Bucknell University, came to the window of the car and angrily demanded that Mr. Peralta-Mera get out of the car several times before the younger man exited his vehicle. After exchanging punches, Mr. Streep reportedly got Mr. Peralta-Mera in a headlock and then lifted him off his feet and slammed him to the ground.

Mr. Streep then fled the scene in his car. He was arrested three days later at his parents’ home on Pondview Lane in East Hampton Village. He has been charged with assault in the second degree and strangulation in the second degree, both felonies. He was released on $5,000 bail.

After initially returning home to nurse his injuries, Mr. Peralta-Mera was rushed to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for treatment of head injuries, then flown by helicopter from there to Stony Brook University Hospital for an emergency craniotomy to relieve pressure of bleeding on his brain.

“He had a subdural hematoma,” Mr. Chakmakian said on Tuesday. “It’s too early to tell to what extent he will suffer effects from this, but when you have a bleed on the brain like that you have cognitive impacts. He will definitely be permanently affected to some extent.”

Mr. Peralta-Mera, who had been working two jobs this summer at Sportime athletic facility and Dopo la Spiaggia restaurant, was about to start his sophomore year at John Jay College of Criminal Justice but has withdrawn because of his injuries, the attorney said.