NEW YORK: Four New York men have pleaded guilty to a string of racially motivated assaults on the night Barack Obama was elected as the first black US president, a court spokesman said on Monday.

The three assaults in the New York City borough of Staten Island on Nov 4 targeted black men, court documents said.

The accused ringleader, Ralph Nicoletti, 18, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Brooklyn to taking part in assaults that included striking a teenager with a metal pipe, pushing another man to the ground and driving a car into a third man.

The third victim was seriously injured and remained in a coma for several weeks after the attack, court papers said.

As a condition of his plea, Nicoletti agreed to a sentence of 12 years in prison, although the length is subject to a judge’s approval, said court spokesman Robert Nardoza.

Three other men — Brian Carranza, 21, and Michael Contreras and Bryan Garaventa, both 18 — pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit hate crime assaults, Nardoza said. Each faces up to 10 years in prison.—Reuters