Jewish Man Maced in Suspected Hate Crime

A Jewish man was attacked and maced by a group of teens while sitting in his car and waiting at a traffic signal in Crown Heights. An eyewitness said the teens were filming the attack.

The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of President Street and New York Avenue. The victim was sitting behind the wheel of his minivan and waiting for a green light when a group of three African-American teens shouted something at him, one of the teens then ran over to the driver’s open window and sprayed him with tear gas.

The group then fled up New York Avenue and down Union Street.

An Uber driver and her passenger witnessed the incident and attempted to apprehend the group, even giving chase briefly, before returning to the scene and calling 911. They told police that they witnessed the attack, as well as the other teens filming it.

Shomrim was called to the scene as well and helped coordinate a search for the group along with the NYPD, unfortunately to no avail.

Witnesses described them as 13 to 16-year-olds.

The victim was treated by Hatzalah for irritation to his eyes and was later released without a visit to the hospital.

CrownHeights.info has learned that this incident was referred to the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force for investigation.

8 Comments

  • Victim

    Last Sunday June 19th My car was parked Montgomery and Troy.
    I went into my car at noon time and i didn’t notice and i sat on this exact mace ..
    got plastic gloves and drove to the 71st precinct to filed a report and handed it over to them.
    I thank g-d it didn’t go off when i sat on it.

  • resident

    we were driving on empire and troy (stopped for a red light). the driver’s window was open and a bottle came flying into the window. hit the driver on the knees. lucky that it was an empty plastic bottle. if this happens while driving, you can lose control of the car.
    this at 2:30 in the afternoon

  • frustrating

    school is over, they are on the streets, with nothing productive to do. While driving on Ocean Ave (along prospect park) a group of 12-15 year olds where riding on scooters and long boards right in the middle of the street….between cars and buses. CRAZY! and they were laughing and cutting in between cars…..there should be really more foot police patrolling streets and dangerous behaviors should be penalized…..

  • shg

    could the CHJCC do some grant writing and see if they can get surveillance cameras at a subsidized price??
    People have been suggesting that on these forums and I think it is the best idea.

  • Report it

    Please report all incidents to the police.
    This will give them something to do besides lunch break, writing fake tickets and standing in line at Dunkin Donuts.

    • Making it Safe

      Since the police are too busy talking on their cell phones or napping, we need to consider pooling our resources and hiring a private armed security service to coordinate with Shomrin.

  • JOKE!!

    Q: WHAT IS THE SAFEST PLACE IN THE WHOLE WORLD ? A: DUNKIN DONUTS, BECAUSE THE POLICE ARE ALWAYS THERE!!!