AG Barr Picks Crown Heights Attacker To Charge With Federal Hate Crime

A criminal complaint was unsealed yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn charging Tiffany Harris, 30, with committing three separate anti-Semitic attacks against Orthodox Jewish women while they were walking on public streets in Brooklyn, New York, during Hanukkah.

The first attack occurred on December 27th, 2020, at approximately 12:40 a.m., at the corner of Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights. Harris allegedly approached a woman who was walking alone and, without warning, slapped her in the face with an open hand.

Five minutes later at the corner of President Street and Kingston Avenue, Harris allegedly approached a woman who was walking with a group of people – two of whom were visibly Orthodox Jewish – and slapped the victim in the back of her head with an open hand while stating, “{explative} the Jews.”

Several minutes later at the same intersection, Harris allegedly approached a third victim who was walking alongside another visibly Orthodox Jewish woman, and slapped her in the face with an open hand.

Harris was arrested by NYPD officers near the scene of the assaults, and was positively identified by the three victims.

Harris is the first of AG Barr’s new initiative to charge hate crimes as felonies, bringing harsher reprisals to the perpetrators.