Brooklyn DA says chasidic members are 'stonewalling' assault investigation; some say case overshadows attacks on Jews.
BROOKLYN, NY — Likening a chasidic patrol group to the violent Crips and Bloods street gangs, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has taken the rare step of ordering a grand jury to investigate the April 14 beating of an African-American man in Crown Heights, an incident in which he says members of the patrol group may be involved.
Hynes at War Against ‘Renegade’ Crown Hts. Patrol
Brooklyn DA says chasidic members are ‘stonewalling’ assault investigation; some say case overshadows attacks on Jews.
BROOKLYN, NY — Likening a chasidic patrol group to the violent Crips and Bloods street gangs, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has taken the rare step of ordering a grand jury to investigate the April 14 beating of an African-American man in Crown Heights, an incident in which he says members of the patrol group may be involved.
“There is an identifiable group that knows what happened to that kid and they are stonewalling it,” said Hynes of the investigation into the attack on Andrew Charles, 20, who said he was sprayed with mace and struck by two individuals described by witnesses as chasidic men. “I’m just not going to allow that.”
He hopes the grand jury will issue subpoenas requiring suspects in the case to testify under oath.
At the same time, Jewish activists in the community are claiming a disproportionate response to the crime while a series of recent attacks on Jews remain unsolved.
Charles is the son of a detective in a nearby precinct, leading some in the community to speculate that the case has therefore received greater attention from authorities.
“There were two incidents involving Jews during Passover” in which racial epithets were used against the victims, said Barry Sugar of the Jewish Leadership Council, an ad hoc group formed in response to recent crimes involving Jewish victims in the neighborhood.
“Neither of those situations got anything close to the coverage or police interest that the son of a cop got,” Sugar continued. “We’re not sure if it’s because he was the son of a cop or because the alleged perpetrator is an Orthodox Jew and the alleged victim is African American.”
Jewish community leaders said they could not remember the last time a grand jury was convened to investigate such a case. A grand jury’s role is generally to decide whether to bring charges after an arrest.
“I don’t know why they don’t do it when there are so many incidents involving people seriously injured by other groups,” said Tzvi Lang, chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council. “Since this incident there have been five or 10 attacks” against Jews, he said.
Hynes alleges that the men who attacked Charles on Empire Boulevard at first stared him down, then attacked him with mace. When Charles ran, one of the attackers made a phone call to other assailants, who then appeared in a sport-utility vehicle. One of them got out of the vehicle and struck Charles with a club or bat, according to Hynes.
The GMC Envoy, whose license plate was given to police by witnesses, was registered to Menachem Ezagui, who police said was a member of the Shmira patrol. Ezagui later came to the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights with a lawyer but did not cooperate with the investigation, although he was released after being placed in a lineup and not identified by the victim, according to press reports.
Police later forcibly entered the apartment of Ezagui’s brother, Aaron, when he refused to open the door around 2 a.m. He was questioned but released without charges.
The Ezaguis have reportedly filed a case with the Civilian Complaint Review Board regarding the arrest and entry into their home. The police who entered the apartment reportedly said they were checking for a hostage, which would allow them to enter without a warrant.
Hynes said he was not familiar with the arrest because no charges were brought against the man.
In a phone interview with The Jewish Week, Hynes said the investigative grand jury is a tactic he has employed only four times in his long career, most notably during the 1986 Howard Beach trial, which brought him prominence as special prosecutor and paved the way for his later election to the Kings County DA’s office.
“I have been out there [in Crown Heights] many times, and I told Sugar that if people will step forward and tell us about their involvement, lots of things can happen that do not necessarily lead to a prison sentence,” said Hynes.
“But if I have to find out on my own who did this, all bets are off. If this was a frum kid and it was a gang circling the wagons I would do exactly the same thing. … You can’t have a group, whether it’s the Bloods, Crips or Shmira acting like vigilantes. I’m not going to allow this kid to be humiliated the way he was.”
The Bloods and Crips are violent urban street gangs that originated in South Central Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.
Hynes drew a distinction between the Shmira group, whose members he described as “renegades,” and the “established” and “respectable” Shomrim Patrol, which works in coordination with the police, and whose members Hynes said he has honored at community events.
Shmira director Yossie Stern responded that it was “reckless for politicians or community leaders to name names and point fingers at people or organizations, blaming them for an incident that allegedly happened on the streets of Crown Heights without having the facts.”
He added that this may cause “anger, hysteria and acts of revenge by one community onto another.”
Stern would not comment directly on the incident because of the open investigation.
Shmira was the original name chosen by Jewish volunteers when they began patrolling Crown Heights 40 years ago, but the group later changed its name to Shomrim to align itself with other patrols with that name. In a dispute over leadership about 10 years ago, some members broke away and reverted to the original Shmira Patrol.
Stern said his group began with some 20 members and now has “hundreds.” He disputed Hynes’ assertion that Shmira does not work in coordination with police.
“The proof is in all the arrests we have made,” he said. “We go on between 25-30 calls a week.”
Lang, of the Crown Heights JCC, described the two groups as “rival patrols” but said they “all do a good job. It could be that one group has a better relationship with the police. We wish they’d work together.”
A founder of Shmira, Rabbi Israel Shemtov, said he was not familiar with the details in this incident or the people involved. Of the two patrols, he said he often joked that he would like to “lock you both in one room until you straighten it out and come out as one unit.”
A police source said the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force was investigating the Charles attack, but has not yet determined if race was a factor in the confrontation. Hynes, in the interview, declined to say if he believed racial epithets had been used during the attack.
Hynes said he had met with Charles and his family to discuss the case because he was asked to do so by the man’s family, but had not met with Jewish victims in several violent incidents because “no one asked me to.” He said he was willing to do so.
In an open letter last November, the Jewish Leadership Council cited three incidents from last summer, and early fall that remain unsolved.
In the first, on July 8, Moshe Kozlovsky was attacked and knocked unconscious by a man who demanded money before the attack and allegedly shouted epithets, including “I’m going to complete what Hitler started.”
A suspect was arrested but not charged in that case.
On Aug. 22, Yechiel Rappoport was attacked and robbed by two men on bicycles, who knocked out five teeth with a metal object. No arrests were made.
And on Sept. 23 and again on Sept. 27, objects were thrown from a roof onto the home of the Davis family on Empire Boulevard, causing damage but no injuries. No arrests were made, although some youths were apprehended by the police.
In all three cases the level of police response and follow-up was faulted by the victims, said Sugar.
Crown Heights City Councilwoman Letitia James said she had communicated her view as a lawyer to Hynes that the Charles incident was not a bias crime but an assault.
“I am asking my constituents in the Jewish community and the black community to please come forward and cooperate with the investigation and if possible identify the person responsible.” James added that she suspected the culprits were afraid to cooperate with the police because of the possible bias crime charge. Convictions on such charges carry enhanced penalties. “I am willing to walk this person into the precinct and advocate on their behalf and make sure their rights are protected,” James said.
Cee
It’s unbelievable what is happening here. We’ve been under constant attack here for at least 30 years, and in the last 2-3 years the attacks have gone up dramatically. In the Summer we have at least 1 attack per week. If you search on this website you will see at least 35 instances over the last 24 months. Yet this one attack, which is very questionable to the extent of its severity has somehow become a watershed moment in DA CharlesHynes career.
Something about two Jewish guys fighting with a black guy that makes him want to teach us Jews a lesson. It’s mind boggling. The way he describes this attack is just out of this world. At worse I would call this a skirmish Read this description of the “beating.”
Hynes alleges that the men who attacked Charles on Empire Boulevard at first stared him down, then attacked him with mace. When Charles ran, one of the attackers made a phone call to other assailants, who then appeared in a sport-utility vehicle. One of them got out of the vehicle and struck Charles with a club or bat, according to Hynes.
I get stared down every time I walk to shul! So these guys “stared down” Andrew Charles and then went straight from that to mace, calling someone in a car, meanwhile enough time has passed that Andrew Charles is STILL STANDING THERE and then the driver of the SUV comesets out and hits Mr. Charles. Its preposterous to assume based on all my years living here that Mr. Charles did not do anything back.
Even if the Jewish guys did stare him down, I’m sure Mr. Charles stared them back, with his friend (who always gets left out of this story for some reason when they explain it) and then he remained silent? He didn’t say anything antisemitic ? He didn’t curse the guys back? He didn’t threaten to beat them up? He didn’t say anything about “this is our neighborhood!” like they did in the past when they repeatedly attack our own?
Mr. Hynes, you should be ashamed of yourself! I don’t care what the facts are regarding this specific case. Even if the worse case scenario is true, it’s still not half as bad as the worse crimes committed against the Frum community in Crown Heights. We have had kids heads bashed in so bad they needed staples, legs and arms broken, teeth broken (5!), we have had an unsolved murder (Mr. Klein), we’ve had so many examples that Mr. Hynes should be mortified based on his outrage over this once incident.
Most of all I just feel helpless. Helpless in my own home. We’re attacked and nothing is done, no one comes to our rescue, and to make it worse when the attackers get attacked it reaches the highest levels of law enforcement in this city.
joe
this Adam Dickter guy is up to no good i hear him on zev brener show and he sounds more like the ny times then a jewish media person never mind that the artcle has the worng location of the supposed event
Isaak
The Stern Gang, known as Shmira, makes Crown Heights look like a third world junta with keystone cops on patrol Go Hynes!
The cops work with Shomrim. That’s who they call when the Precinct needs REAL help.
MADDINSANECRAZY
THE CH SHMIRA GANG SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFIED MEMBER BY MEMBER AND TAKENOFF THE STREETS MAKING CROWN HEIGHTS STREETS SAFER, THE SHMIRA CAR, CREATED FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF DRIVING BY MEMBERS OF SHOMRIMS HOMES MANY TIMES A DAY IN A FUTILE EFFORT TO ANTAGONIZED AND HARRASS,SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT BE ALOWED ON CH STREETS BY THE NYPD, SHMIRA MEMBERS IDENTIFIED BY THE NYPD FOUND TO HAVE PORTABLE RADIOS ON THEIR PERSON SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY CONFISCATED, A WHILE BACK A 3 YEAR BOY’S LIFE WAS SAVED DUE TO A SHOMRIMS MEMBER WITNESSING THE EVENT AND TRASMITTING THE SITUATION ON HIS PORTABLE RADIO, 1ST RESPONDERS ARRIVED WHITHIN MOMEMTS AND SAVED THE BOY’S LIFE, TODAY SHMIRA MEMBERS CONTANTLY ATTEMP TO SABOTAGE SHOMRIMS RADIO FREQUENCY BY TRANSMITTING HIGH PITCHED TONES,MUSIC, AND TV SHOWS OVER SHOMRIMS FREQUENCY THEREBY FORCING SHOMRIM TO INCORPARATE THE USE OF NEXTELS WHICH MAY EXTEND RESPONSE TIMES BY EXTRA SECOND OR MINUTES PUTTING THE LIVES OF YOUR HUSBAND, WIFE, SONS AND DAUGHTERS AT RISK, SHMIRA CRIMINALS MAY HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS. HOPEFULLY DA CHARLES HYNES GETS THE CRIMINALS OFF OUR STREETS, AND SENDS THE MORE INNOCENT AND NAIVE AMONG THE SHMIRA LEADERS JIHAD BOYS TO DO MORE PRODUCTIVE THINGS WITH THEIR LIVES, THE COMMUNITY HAS AND ALWAYS WILL HAVE A DEDICATED AND EXPERIENCED PATROL, DO NOT SUPPORT OR DONATE MONEY TO THE FRAUDULANT SHMIRA LEADERS WHO SEND YOUNG BOYS AND MEN OUT TO DO THEIR DIRTY WORK. MAY WE ONLY START HEARING GOOD THINGS FROM THIS COMMUNITY ONCE MORE.
YOSSI STERN
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND. 7 SHOMRIM MEMBERS ARE PRESNTLY FACING SERIOUS CHARGES DUE TO THE FACT THAT SHMIRA MEMBERS ASSULTED THEM IN THE BOCHRIMS DORM ON EASTERN PARKWAY AND THEN PRESSED CHARGES AGAIN THE SHOMRIM MEMBERS. THESE ARE SHOMRIM MEMBERS WITH FAMILYS THAT MAY GO TO JAIL IF FOUND GUILTY.
cant beleive it
i olny read the first few paragraphs and could olny say two stuff
A)ymach shimoh to the “brooklyn DA”
B) i agree a few articles ago when this was brought up somone wrote that the ppl who did it should go up and tell the truth that they were also hurt with stone and bring up with them the list of over 23 hate crimes that happened here and ask if a grand jury happened there to
Pentax1
Good. Shmira is a BAD thing…
Let us gaze upon thee, O fair Justice
Now this was very difficult to piece together – only five days ago, April 25 three officers are acquitted of emptying 50 rounds (including a pause to reload) in poor Sean Bell and associates, and the NY African American community (and most Caucasians too for that matter) are not overly pleased with the effectiveness of the Judiciary, to put it very mildly. Well, thinks our boys on the prosecution stand, we’ve managed to grease the wheels for our own boys once again, but what scapegoat can we sacrifice to the black vote so we can keep the party going for yet another term? Hey looky here – we got a Jew in crown heights! If we can nail him on a flagpole with his can of mace, people might just forget the guy who is tanning his toes on a hammock after turning some poor bloke into swiss cheese.
Good Job, DA Hines. If we can’t have a Judicial process which can keep politics out of the equation, then at least we can comfort ourselves that the players are to dumb to hide their game.
While we’re at it, can you please remind us again why pervert Kolko beat the the rap with a plea bargain? I seem to recall a prominent legal authority who was recently pressing for a trial, putting forth his reasoning that “There is an identifiable group that knows what happened to that kid.” Wise words if you ask me. Especially if said kid is willing to testify. So pray, PLEA BARGAIN?
http://www.thejewishweek.co…
go away goy
are you saying that the “goy” Was Right.
May All “goyim” that do any thing like what this goy did get the same treatment.
Hannah
re: CEE
great letter- you should type it up and mail to every single newspaper in New York City
You should also mail a letter like this to Mayor Bloomberg, and maybe Hillary Clinton. She is desperate for Jewish votes and has given up on getting the African American vote away from Obama- and they have something like 4 more primaries before the nomination for the Democratic candidate is sealed. get the maximum publicity and get the biggest people you can involved.
and guys, we should start looking into filing a class action suit against certain people in the precinct who have worked to make sure that Jews in CH are not protected. They are violating the civil rights of our community.
and say Tehillim for success- if we do our tachlis and ask G-d for help we can fix this. If we just keep kvetching to each other, on websites that only Chabadniks and their fans read, then things will just get worse. This isn’t working towards a solution, and it hardly counts as crying out to the One who can really help.
crwn HeightScvhitz
i sense WW-3 in the distance.
struggling economy + open anti semitism + corrupt systems + no ahavas yisroel = Holocaust: the Sequel (and the sequel is always worse then the original!)
baila
this is long-overdue. what our people don’t do in physical retalition, they do in raising racist children and harboring anti-Black sentiments themselves.
Dovid
Let us refrain from bad-mouthing the Jews of Shmira. The real issue here is why the DA is focusing on one alleged attack by Jews on a black person, while he seems to ignore the long string of attacks by black people on Jews. This is not equal protection under the law. The DA and the police are coming across looking very biased.
me
chas vesholom how can u say that there will be such a thing as WW3…..no way. plus, i would hardly consider ch to be the whole world. a “war” in ch, maybe. world war? forget it.
ceo
I agree with Isaac and Baila above.
Lets do a reality check….or a cheshbon hanefesh. Is it excitement that these guys want, or are they really representing what the Rebbe teaches us. ?
Are the parents too busy to teach values to the children? If so, then someone else will fill in (yetzer hara) and take care of their chinuch. No need to do anything else than raise our next generation to do the Rebbe’s beloved Torah and Mitzvos. Most important is to make sure we are giving that message to our kids. We all step up with our honesty and our decency and its mitzva goreres mitzva momosh.
To: me -chschvitz
how can i say there will be a ww3? well, i was not referring only to the current situation in ch, but to the current crisis we face in the world today.
please don’t tell me that you don’t follow the news, and that you’re not aware of what goes on past the brooklyn bridge. the U.S. Dollar is decreasing in worth every day, gas prices continue to rise, people are going into more and more debt, and so are companies as well. Anti Semitism is on the rise, and we can’t get along with ourselves either it seems! all this is a recipe for disaster, and if you can’t see it then you must be childishly unrealistic, or simply uneducated.
(i’m not saying tha we should pack our bags and move today, but i am saying that people need to be aware of what is going on, and what it is capable of leading to)
KR
Re:Let us gaze upon thee, O fair Justice
Very well said..
You articulated what everyone knows and feels in their heart but are unable to summarize with your amazing clarity. You should send a letter as many media outlets as possible before DA Hines has a chance to make a “korban” out this young man (regardless if he was innocent or not this man is going to get a terrible sentence because people (politicians) are looking to further themselves from anything that may incite Sean Bell’s case coming to front page news again at which point Rev. Al Sharpton will have all his followers rise and cause riot and mischief pinning it all on us -the Jews) I think for the moment we have ignore our own problems with shmira-shomrim and focus on getting the proper legal and political backing for our comm. in the next few weeks lest we find ourselves being beaten and unable to defend ourselves for fear of being arrested.
furious
disgusting!!! why dont the jews who got attacked FILE a case and blow up the case just like this black did!! then maybe we will see some of the criminals of our street. we should put it all over the news!!! Do something! we shouldnt allow the goyim to win!!!!!
AverageJew
I have no problem with communities defending themselves but when they attack innocent people, they are a street gang plain and simple. These guys must go.