Prime suspect in hate crime is outside US

Prime suspect in hate crime is outside U.S.

Second man is held in death of reported target of anti-gay slurs.

By Crystal Carreon and Dorothy Korber, The Sacramento Bee, August 8, 2007

The prime suspect in a deadly assault that outraged Sacramento's gay community has fled to Russia, Sacramento County sheriff's investigators said Tuesday.

Another suspect in the July death of Satender Singh, which authorities are calling a hate crime, is scheduled to make his first court appearance today on charges connected to the incident.

The naming Tuesday of Andrey Vusik, 29, of West Sacramento, who is out of the country, and Aleksandr Shevchenko, 21, of Sacramento marked a major step forward in the explosive case, said Sheriff John McGinness.

Vusik is charged with involuntary manslaughter rather than murder because the evidence does not show any intent to kill Singh, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office said in a statement released Tuesday.

But Tuesday's action brought at least one family closer to a resolution.

"We are relieved that he will have justice," said Singh's uncle Camie Bhuie, "and we hope they can bring back the other culprit soon."

The news arrived a month after the death of 26-year-old Singh, a native of Fiji, who died July 5 of head trauma, days after he was punched in a confrontation on the Lake Natoma shore.

In the month since, the incident has reverberated across the local gay community and captured the attention of state and national politicians, who are pushing for tougher hate-crime legislation.

Singh's friends and supporters have said the assault was fueled by homophobia and hate, coming after a string of racial slurs and anti-gay jibes allegedly made by a Russian-speaking group at the state park.

"It is important to make a statement that we as a society will not tolerate this kind of behavior," McGinness said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the suspects.

Homicide investigators say Vusik threw the lethal punch.

The West Sacramento man, whose wife and children remain in the area, is still at large in Russia, where he is being sought on a charge of involuntary manslaughter and committing a hate crime, said Sgt. Connie Merkins of the sheriff's homicide bureau.

In an interview with The Bee, Vusik's wife, Tatyana, insisted he is innocent and acted in self-defense -- not out of hate. She characterized Singh's death as an accident.

The other suspect in the case, Shevchenko, surrendered voluntarily at his home Monday, according to Merkins. He is charged with intimidation and interfering with a victim's rights, which is also a hate crime.

Merkins said the Sheriff's Department is working with the FBI to find Vusik and extradite him from Russia. FBI officials have declined to comment on the case.

"We actually talked to him by telephone on Sunday," Merkins said. "He said this has scared the hell out of him."

Merkins said Vusik and Shevchenko were identified based on witness interviews -- along with a license plate number supplied by Singh's friends and a fingerprint found on evidence gathered by state park police.

The sheriff also acknowledged a "good old-fashioned gumshoe" effort.

If convicted, Vusik could face a maximum of eight years in prison, while Shevchenko faces a maximum of three years. Shevchenko, who remained at the main jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, could not be reached Tuesday.

In the weeks since Singh's death, Tatyana Vusik said she has struggled with the serious accusations that have clouded her family and the larger Slavic community. The crime, she said through a Russian translator, has become exaggerated in political circles. She said gay activists are trying to make an example of her husband, who she says is "a good man."

That day at Lake Natoma, Tatyana Vusik said she and her family were relaxing and enjoying the view.

Her husband barbecued, while their young children played nearby.

It seemed like a pleasant afternoon, Tatyana Vusik said, until a neighboring party -- which included Singh -- grew raucous. She said the revelers were drinking alcohol, swearing loudly and dancing provocatively.

The mother said she then saw Singh leap onto a table, swishing his shirt between his legs. Others around him smashed bottles. She said she saw two men kissing. "We're a Christian family," Tatyana Vusik said.

She said she asked her husband to tell Singh's group to calm down, that there were children present.

At that point, Tatyana Vusik said, the other group began attacking her family verbally, telling them to go back to Russia. She said the group cursed at her and her sister, Dasha Yakovchuk.

Tatyana Vusik recalled that it was Singh who first mentioned "gay" as part of a crude sexual invitation apparently meant for her husband.

She recalled that her husband said the atmosphere was growing tense, so he used the word "gay" as part of a joke.

She said neither she nor her husband is part of any anti-gay group or movement.

An earlier version of events from the Sheriff's Department has confirmed that there was a confrontation between the two groups, but that the "Russian-speaking" group had hurled homophobic slurs at Singh and racial remarks at him and his friends, according to witness statements.

"That's what they say, but they don't know the truth," Yakovchuk told The Bee in an interview Tuesday. "It was exactly the other way around."

Tatyana recalled that after the exchange began, she, her sister and the children left the park. Her husband and Shevchenko and another friend stayed behind.

When Vusik came home later that night, he told his wife there was a confrontation, and he acted in self-defense. She recalled that Vusik said Singh had lifted a broken glass bottle and aimed at him. He threw a "soft punch" and ran away, Tatyana Vusik said.

Sheriff's detectives said there are no accounts from independent witnesses or any of Singh's friends that support that account.

Tatyana Vusik said her husband had no idea that Singh had died when he left in early July for a business trip exporting vehicles.

She refused to disclose her husband's whereabouts, but said she has spoken with him at least twice a week since he left.

In their phone conversations, she said, Andrey Vusik has repeatedly expressed his condolences to Singh's family. She said he is having a difficult time grasping the gravity of the crime.

"We just got in the confrontation between the churches and the gay community; what happened was a tragic accident, and had nothing to do with gays," she said through a translator.

After Tuesday's press conference, community activists gathered at sheriff's headquarters to express gratitude.

"This is very significant -- we're moving forward," said Georgette Imura, a leader in the Asian/Pacific Islander community and chair of the Satender Justice Coalition. "I'm very excited that the suspects have been identified and that they have been charged with hate crimes."

Sacramento's gay and lesbian community was particularly shocked at Singh's death, fearing that it represented an escalation in the rift between them and Slavic evangelical leaders who preach that homosexuality is a sin.

Sgt. Merkins said Tuesday that she could provide no information about the church affiliations of Vusik or Shevchenko.

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