Getting Vested in NYC

Twenty-eight-year-old O'Shae Sibley was “living his best life” before a Brooklyn teen fatally stabbed him, a prosecutor alleged on Monday in opening statements at the trial of the accused killer in Brooklyn Supreme Criminal Court.

Sibley, a Black, gay, professional dancer from Philadelphia, had rented a car with four of his friends on July 29, 2023, and spent the day celebrating one of their birthdays at an LGBTQ-friendly beach in New Jersey, Senior Assistant District Attorney Sarah Jafari said. They stopped at a gas station on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood on their way home to Brooklyn.

As they refueled and danced to Beyoncé outside the car, the friends encountered a “hateful” verbal assault of racist and homophobic slurs from a group that included then-17-year-old Dmitriy Popov, who had been working in a smoke shop nearby, Jafari said.

The verbal altercation turned deadly when Popov pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed Sibley in the torso.

Popov, 20, faces charges of second-degree murder as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon and several other crimes. He could spend up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is trying him as an adult.

Popov’s defense attorney, Mark Pollard, argued Monday that his client was acting in self-defense. He described Popov as a “frail, skinny, puny” teen facing a group of “strong, in-shape” men. The attorney also said Sibley hit Popov.

“This is about a few terrifying seconds in the life of a 17-year-old boy — not man,” Pollard said, adding: “He was afraid for his life in a chaotic situation.”

But Jafari said Sibley was targeted because he was an “out and proud” Black, gay man, dancing in a bathing suit.

“You cannot kill someone because you are offended,” she told jurors. “You cannot kill someone because how they live their life is not in line with what you think is right.”

Sibley’s loved ones filled several benches in the 20th-floor courtroom — many of them dressed in black. His mother occasionally dabbed her eyes with a tissue during opening statements. One man hunched over in his seat and gasped for breath.

A handful of Popov’s relatives sat behind the defendant on the other side of the courtroom. Popov sat quietly next to his attorney, wearing a white, button-down shirt and navy blue pants. At one point, he jotted down notes on a yellow legal pad.

Jafari described two alternate worlds playing out half a block apart just before Sibley’s death. At the gas station, she said, Sibley and his friends were in their bathing suits, enjoying a beautiful summer night. It was the summer of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour, and the group was dancing to her music.

“They were expressing themselves,” she said.

Popov and his friends were working at a smoke shop down the block, huddling around a screen to watch “half-naked men” wrestle in an Ultimate Fighting Championship match, the prosecutor said.

When the group noticed Sibley and his friends dancing, they decided that this type of behavior in their neighborhood was not OK and walked over to the gas station to confront them, Jafari said.

When the two groups collided, the tension quickly escalated, according to the prosecutor. The group from the smoke shop called Sibley and his friends racial slurs and told them to “get the f—k out of here,” Jafari said.

“We don’t do that s—t. We’re Muslims,” someone said, according to the prosecutor.

One of Sibley’s friends, who was only wearing a jock strap, ran back to the car to put on shorts, Jafari said. Sibley approached Popov, and his friends apologized for making them uncomfortable, the prosecutor said. But the group from the smoke shop kept cursing and telling Sibley and his friends to leave. Popov recorded on his phone.

A clerk at the gas station came outside to defuse the situation, and for a moment it seemed like the argument was over, Jafari said. Both sides walked away, except for Popov, who continued to call out insults and slurs, she said. Then, the prosecutor said, Popov reached into his pocket, hunched over and pulled out a knife.

“Come on, get stabbed,” he said, according to Jafari.

Sibley stepped toward Popov with his palms open, positioning himself between the knife and his friend, the prosecutor said. The teen stabbed Sibley in the torso, slicing five-and-a-half inches into his body and puncturing his heart, Jafari said.

Popov went back to the smoke shop with the bloody knife, rang up a customer and then fled in a car, she said. Meanwhile, Sibley lay on the ground, his pink bathing suit turning red. He was pronounced dead at Maimonides Hospital shortly after.

Popov’s defense attorney said video of the incident would make clear that Sibley and his friends were pursuing his client, not the other way around.

“His perception at the time was fear,” Pollard said.

But Jafari said Popov “had so many opportunities to leave, to walk away.”

“He chose not to,” she said. “He used deadly physical force against O’Shae for no justifiable reason.”

The trial comes nearly three years after Sibley’s killing rattled New York City’s Black and queer communities. Following Sibley’s death, fellow dancers gathered at the gas station on Coney Island Avenue to vogue in his honor and call for justice.

In the year Sibley was killed, New York City recorded the most hate crimes against gay men and Black people in New York City since at least 2019, with 116 and 56 reported incidents, respectively, according to NYPD data.

At least 11 hate crimes against LGBT people and 10 against Black people were reported in the first three months of this year, according to the most recent police data.

Three New Yorkers who were passengers onboard the cruise ship that has been racked by a deadly hantavirus outbreak are now being held in Nebraska along with other American passengers, according to state health officials.

The virus that spread on the MV Hondius cruise ship, known as the Andes virus, is a form of hantavirus that can cause severe pulmonary disease, and three people tied to the outbreak have died so far, according to the World Health Organization. The final passengers were evacuated from the ship on Monday, Reuters reported.

One of the three New Yorkers who was on the ship is a New York City resident and the other two are residents of Orange and Westchester counties, respectively, Dr. James McDonald, the state health commissioner, said Monday.

"At this point, it is important to emphasize that there is no immediate risk to the public,” McDonald said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as needed."

The New Yorkers exposed to the virus are expected to be subject to a 42-day monitoring period, but McDonald said health officials are still gathering information on how long they will remain in Nebraska.

A total of 18 American passengers were on board the MV Hondius, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. HHS posted on X Sunday that one American passenger on the ship had mild symptoms of the Andes virus and another tested “mildly” positive on a PCR test.

HHS said most of the American passengers were being airlifted from the ship to a Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Two of the passengers, including the one with mild symptoms, were being taken to a similar treatment center at Emory University in Atlanta, according to HHS.

The New Jersey Department of Health said Friday that two residents had been exposed to someone who was on the ship, but were not passengers themselves.

The Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus known to spread from person to person and symptoms can be severe, including aches, fever, gastrointestinal issues and trouble breathing, according to the CDC. But infectious disease experts say the Andes virus is not likely to cause widespread illness, since it doesn’t get transmitted easily.

Still, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday she has “activated” public health experts in the state to “start preparing New York for worst case scenarios,” just in case.

Hochul expressed doubts that the CDC is well-equipped to contain the virus should it spread. “I know that over a year ago there were significant cuts at the CDC as part of the Elon Musk DOGE cuts,” Hochul said during a press conference Monday, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency.

“I cannot, as governor, not be prepared for anything that could happen,” Hochul added.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani don’t agree on everything — and that includes who should represent Lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn in Congress.

Hochul made her first joint campaign appearance with Rep. Dan Goldman Monday as he seeks re-election, putting her at odds with Mamdani, who has endorsed former City Comptroller Brad Lander in the race.

Speaking to a crowd of hundreds of union members at a rally in Lower Manhattan, Hochul lauded Goldman for leading the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

“He stood up to power and he was ferocious and courageous,” she said. “Those are traits that I gravitate to. This business is not for the faint of heart.”

Polls show a tight race between Goldman and Lander.

Goldman is a centrist Democrat who’s supported by the prominent pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

Mamdani and Lander cross-endorsed each other in last year’s ranked-choice Democratic primary for mayor. Both are vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The competing endorsements are the latest wrinkle in Hochul and Mamdani’s political partnership.

The governor and mayor jointly announced nearly $2 billion in funding for childcare early in Mamdani’s tenure — a huge step toward fulfilling one of Mamdani’s signature campaign promises. Mamdani endorsed Hochul’s re-election campaign in February.

But Hochul has reportedly been irked by the repeated calls by Mamdani and his progressive allies to “tax the rich” by imposing higher income taxes on the state’s top earners.

The governor has said she doesn’t support raising the state’s income or corporate taxes. But she has proposed a new pied-à-terre tax on those with second homes in the city worth $5 million or more.

A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.

Goldman has also picked up the support of several prominent labor groups, including District Council 37, the largest municipal employees union in the city, and the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

Lander has the endorsements of the United Auto Workers regional chapter and the PSC/CUNY union.

In response to Hochul's endorsement of Goldman, Lander campaign spokesperson Emily Minster highlighted Lander’s labor support.

Lander will “work alongside local and national labor partners to fight the billionaires who are rigging the economy against working people,” Minster said.

Asked about the race being a proxy battle between Hochul and Mamdani, Goldman said it was a fight between him and Lander.

“I can assure you that when I'm knocking doors, nobody is asking me about the governor or the mayor. They're asking me about my agenda and whatever my opponent is saying,” Goldman said.