A 17-year-old was arrested Thursday in connection with a Feb. 11 anti-Semitic assault, according to the New York City Police Department.
Video showed the alleged assailant getting out of a minivan parked on Avenue L between E 32nd Street and New York Avenue at about 11:35 pm last Friday and slapping a 22-year-old Jewish man across the face, knocking his yarmulke from his head.
Authorities say the assailant then ran back to the van, which was being driven by a second suspect, who has not been identified. The teen was charged with assault and committing a hate crime, according to the NYPD. Both suspects were caught on video in a nearby convenience store after the attack.
The first weekend in February sent Brooklyn’s Jewish community reeling as two men were attacked in separate incidents on Feb. 4. In the days after the attack, swastikas were found spray-painted on Yeshiva school buses and the sides of multiple buildings in Williamsburg.
Last week, cops arrested a 15-year-old for allegedly attacking a man dressed in traditional Hasidic clothing in one of the Feb. 4 incidents.
“The sporadic and all-too-frequent attacks against our Jewish neighbors are indefensible with dire consequences for the victim, their family, and our community as a whole,” said Councilmember Farah Louis, who represents the neighborhood, in a tweet posted hours before the arrest. “I condemn Friday’s attack that occurred on Avenue L in Flatlands where a man was struck in the face and his yarmulke fell off. We live in multicultural neighborhoods that are open to all people and will not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other hate crimes in our backyard.”
