O’Shae Sibley was stabbed to death in an altercation at a petrol station in July 2023. Subsequently a 17-year old boy was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, and an additional hate crime charge.

Appearing in court last year Dmitriy Popov pleaded not guilty to the charges.

As the case prepares to head for trial Popov’s lawyers have indicated that they will put forward a defence that claims their client’s actions were in self defence and that O’Shae Sibley was the aggressor in the interaction.

Popov’s father spoke exclusively to The Daily Mail saying that the portrayal of his son in the media had been inaccurate.

“My son is a good kid, he goes to church, he goes to school- all that they say is not true.” the parent said, adding, “He was being attacked by four people.”

The article in the Daily Mail ran with a series of photos supplied by the family which showed Popov as a young boy playing with a puppy and posing with medals he won at a Karate championship.

Sibley, a 28-year-old dancer and choreographer was stabbed and later died as a result of injuries following an altercation at a petrol station in Brooklyn on 29th July 2023.

Sibley accompanied by a group of friends had been refueling their vehicle after a day at the beach in Jersey Shore where they had celebrated a birthday.

Sibley and his friends were playing Beyonce’s Renaissance album and vogueing when they were approached by a group of males who allegedly took offence to their dancing.

Witnesses have described the men who attacked the group as shouting homophobic and racist statements and allegedly accusing the men’s dancing actions as being offensive to their Islamic religious beliefs.

In social media posts his friends said he had been trying to de-escalate the situation when he was stabbed by one of the teenagers.

Popov handed himself into police after the case received global media attention.