Teen Charged With NYC Dancer O’Shea Sibley's Murder to Face Hate Crime Charges as Adult: Prosecutors

Officials announced that the teenager who fatally stabbed O’Shae Sibley for dancing to Beyoncé at a Brooklyn gas station will face prosecution as an adult on hate crime charges.

On Aug. 10, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that prosecutors concluded Sibley’s death was motivated by anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ bias, Syracuse.com reported.

Gonzalez said, “It’s clear to me, under the circumstances of this case, that in substantial part, this attack was caused because people were offended by Mr. Sibley and his friends dancing and celebrating.”

On July 29, Sibley and his friends were dancing at a pump at a Brooklyn gas station when another group of people started taunting them, authorities said.

Security camera footage from the gas station showed the two groups arguing for several minutes. Both sides then walk away, but Sibley and a friend returned and confront one of the others, who was recording on his phone, Syracuse.com reported.

The video allegedly shows Sibley, 28, follow that person and then both disappear out of the camera’s view. Moments later, Sibley walks backward into view, checking his side and then collapsing on the sidewalk, according to Syracuse.com.

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Dmitriy Popov, 17, was indicted for second-degree murder as a hate crime and Gonzalez said the accused killer would be tried as an adult in the youth sector of the Supreme Court, the New York Post reported.

“What the video shows is that Mr. Sibley was rightfully in a position to speak out and protect himself and his friends from anti-gay and anti-Black slurs, and that what occurred after that was a crime,” Gonzalez said, noting Sibley and his friends were unarmed.

Gonzalez added, “Defending yourself from the anti-gay or anti-Black comments, arguing back, it’s not a cause for someone to take a weapon and do what was done in this case.”