Photo Credit: Emily Schrader via Twitter
A hate-filled punk punched a Hasidic man in Willamsburg, Brooklyn on August 30, 2022

New York City Police are increasing their patrols of the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in the wake of a series of vicious, violent antisemitic attacks on Hasidic men in the neighborhood.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said her officers have increased patrols near synagogues in the neighborhood in response to the uptick in attacks.

One arrest was made last Thursday (Aug. 25) in the case of a visibly Jewish man, 27, who was attacked while walking down the street three days earlier. Brooklyn resident Carrington Maddox, 31, was charged with aggravated harassment and menacing as a hate crime.

In that incident, another Hasidic man was attacked one week earlier in the same neighborhood, randomly assaulted by a black man with a mustache as he left his nearby residence.

 

“No one deserves to be the victim of such senseless, hateful violence,” Sewell told reporters Wednesday at a news conference held at the site of another attack on a Hasidic Jew this past Monday (Aug. 29).

A 14-year-old was also arrested, in connected with two separate attacks on Hasidic men in the neighborhood, using a fire extinguisher. He was charged with assault as a hate crime, assault, and aggravated harassment.

The two Hasidim were attacked with fire extinguishers just minutes apart at around 6 am in the same neighborhood as they were walking to synagogue for morning prayers.

 

One of the men, age 72, was sprayed twice. The second victim, age 66, was sprayed and then punched in the nose.

“In the wake of these senseless attacks, we deployed round-the-clock house of worship cars to routinely visit synagogues,” Sewell told reporters at a news conference Wednesday held at the site where a Hasidic man was attacked this past Monday by a scruffy-looking, hate-filled punk.

In Monday’s attack the punk, who appeared to be white, yelled epithets at the man — who was clearly older — before he suddenly lunged at him and punched him in the face.

 

Another view of the same attack:

 

US Representative Nydia Velazquez, who represents New York City’s seventh Congressional district, called for an investigation, saying, “As a City we must wholeheartedly condemn these types of horrifying attacks.”

“We remain focused on prevention,” Sewel said. “The NYPD takes great pride in the work that we do each day and night whenever and wherever hate emerges.”