Orthodox Jewish leaders Wednesday after a breakfast meeting with Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who said the police acted appropriately in the neighborhood on Tuesday.
A day after a protest by hundreds of Hasidic Jews over a 75-year-old man's arrest, in which, the authorities said, two officers were assaulted, two police cars were damaged and two dozen bonfires were set, the police commissioner said yesterday that his department's conduct had been appropriate.
Police Defend Conduct During Borough Park Arrest and Protest
A day after a protest by hundreds of Hasidic Jews over a 75-year-old man’s arrest, in which, the authorities said, two officers were assaulted, two police cars were damaged and two dozen bonfires were set, the police commissioner said yesterday that his department’s conduct had been appropriate.
City officials were facing questions not only about how the police treated the elderly man, but also about why only three people were arrested in the confrontation, which took place in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and lasted several hours. They said the priority on Tuesday was to defuse a volatile situation in a neighborhood whose largely Hasidic residents and the authorities have a history of tension.
“The police have to use their judgment,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at a breakfast meeting with Orthodox Jewish leaders from Borough Park. “I’m satisfied with the response.”
The leaders called the demonstration in their neighborhood a misunderstanding that had been aggravated by the presence of hundreds of high school students who had misbehaved, and said the protesters’ conduct was inexcusable.
Responding to a reporter’s question about whether his officers had trod too lightly, Mr. Kelly again said that the response had been appropriate.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg also defended the reaction by officers. “Their job is to enforce the law and to calm the community and give the community a sense that they’re being protected,” he told reporters. The leaders who met with Mr. Kelly praised the Police Department’s restraint, saying that it had prevented the protest from escalating.
The disturbance on Tuesday night was the first major flare-up between the police and residents since 1999, when hundreds of people protested the shooting by the police of Gidone Busch, a mentally disturbed Orthodox Jew who was shot by the police while holding a hammer.
The demonstration Tuesday was stoked, residents said, by complaints that the 75-year-old man, Arthur Schick, had been mistreated by officers after he was pulled over during a traffic stop.
For his part, Mr. Schick, an Orthodox Jewish caterer who lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn, criticized both the police and the protesters yesterday in an interview at his home. He said the officers had handled him roughly when they stopped him for speaking on his cellphone while driving and for not pulling over when the officers turned on their roof light.
After giving one of the officers his license and registration, Mr. Schick, said he got out of his car and walked toward the police car asking for the officers’ names. One of the officers ordered him to get back in his car. When he instead asked one officer again for his partner’s name, the officer handcuffed him, Mr. Schick said.
The two officers, whom Mr. Schick and a law enforcement official later identified as Sgt. Angelo Russo and Officer Joseph Wright from the 66th Precinct, then moved Mr. Schick toward a police van that arrived on the scene.
“It was a high step,” Mr. Schick said, describing his attempt to get into the van. “I asked for help getting in. They wouldn’t help me. Instead, they pushed me into the seat of the van face down.”
Mr. Schick said an officer in plainclothes in the van, using a racial epithet, told him he was being treated the way officers treat black people.
Mr. Kelly, however, said that Mr. Schick left his car and started berating officers and tried to involve the crowd that had gathered. The two other men arrested were Chaim Gillig, 18, who was charged with disorderly conduct, and Chaim Appel, 37, who Mr. Kelly said kicked an officer responding to the demonstration.
No one has yet been arrested for smashing one police car’s windows, setting a fire inside another one or for grabbing Sergeant Russo soon after he arrested Mr. Schick, the police said.
Of the demonstration after his arrest, Mr. Schick said: “The riots were 100 percent wrong. Protest is good, but it has to be done in a legal, proper and civil manner.”
During a news conference yesterday in front of the 66th Precinct station house, City Councilman Simcha Felder, whose district includes Borough Park, said he had been at the demonstration and had heard Joseph J. Esposito, the chief of department, the highest-ranking uniformed police officer, make derogatory comments about Jews.
In a statement, the Police Department said that Chief Esposito acknowledged that while trying to bring the crowd under control, he had used an expletive, but quotes of his comments in the statement did not make any reference to Jews.
Mr. Kelly said he had total confidence in Chief Esposito, and added, “The appropriate tactics were used, the appropriate number of arrests were made.”
Large crowds in the streets are not unusual in Hasidic neighborhoods, where people gather en masse for holiday celebrations, funerals, rallies and many other occasions. And on a weekday evening a few days before Passover, the streets of Borough Park are crowded with shoppers.
A few times in recent decades, crowds in the neighborhood have gathered in anger.
In December 1978, hundreds of residents took to the streets to protest the fatal stabbing of an elderly Jewish man, sparking riots that left at least 70 people injured, most of them police officers. Demonstrators stormed the 66th Precinct station house, fighting with officers and damaging property in the worst unrest the city had seen since riots in the 1960’s.
In August 1999, residents took to the streets again, after four police officers fatally shot Mr. Busch.
Rabbi Edgar Gluck, who was struck on the head by a police club during the 1978 riots, said he arrived at Tuesday’s protest 10 minutes after Mr. Schick’s arrest. “When something like this happens, it puts relations back for who knows how long, on both sides,” he said of Hasidic residents and the Police Department.
“Some people feel that the community has a large influence on the policies in the 66th Precinct,” he said.
“We are different than other communities. In our dress, our worship, our school system,” he said. “We have to have a close relationship with the police.”
Nice Jewish Boy
I would personally beat the crap out of those idiotic high-school shmucks who rioted.
You heard me right! I, a Hassidic Jew, would side with the police.
G-d bless the NYPD!!
anonymous
to nice jewish boy:
how could u say that the guy was 75 years old. u cant say what they did was unlawful since they do have the right to arrest him if they would feel he’s a threat to them or something like that but the police are supposed to use common sense and the reality is an old 75 year old jewish man is not a threat when he gets out of the car. HE’S 75 YEARS OLD!
hashfanatic
AMEN!
Next time they should give ’em water cannons and tear gas!
The whole thing, what a chilul Hashem, what a disgrace.
not from around here.....
The Police may defend their conduct, I still think they were wrong. They over reacted to a very simple situation. If a racial epithet was used then they were completely out of control, they are trained to stay in control of any situation. Those officer’s should be written up there was no reason to say or do what they did. If it were racial slurs against Blacks or Hispanic’s there really would have been a riot, and those officer’s would have been on trial !!! What is that called ….. ah, yes "double standard" !!!
MFH
I don’t think that the police are necessarily antisemetic – they’re just simply trigger happy and enjoy making arrests like this one. They probably got scared after they realized what kind of uproar was brought upon them, and decided not to make any further arrests, as if to neutralize the one of Mr. Schick. But let’s face it, after all of the stories which we have recently seen in our communities, in addition to the hundreds that we hear on the radio regarding police relations with the black and latino communities, it would be an educated assumption to say that the police are scum. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!
But hey, many of these protesters are of the same ilk as those who throw produce at motorists which drive on shabbos you can’t change human nature.
unbelievable
unbelievable. only crown heightseres would post comments like this. and i guarantee you that it would never happen here in ch because here there is no achdus! only people fighting over rabbonim and that sorta stuff. no one cares for each other here in ch. in Bp theres some sorta sense of caring for another Jew. Fact is you may be right that the riots were a bit much, but the police need to know that theres consequences for their actions. Meanwhile here in ch everybodys getting tickets VE’EIN POITZEH PEH UMETZAFTZEF!!!! because here everybodys busy with unimportant garbage about who is rov and who isnt!!!
The police must stop targeting Jews for tickets!!
Let them find Kleins killer! Instead they are giving tickets!!
voice
the only language the police understand is a riot. They get away with targeting the Jews in Crown Heights, they get away with letting muggers go, with not responding to crimes… because the Jews in CH don’t make a big deal about it
anon
to the nice jewish boy:
How can u say that? the police do what they darn well please to us and u just sit back and PRAISE them? in crown heights just recently there has been a murder and many muggings, and what do the police do? NOTHING!! they just "look out" more and give TICKETS to every second person. and u say "G-D bless the nypd"?
how can u side with the police who couldnt care less what happened to us?this story now, the guy was 75 years old, what kind of threat could he have been? the police were rough with him, and deserved this!!
we crown heighters, should learn from this. we cant just sit back and praise the police at a time of murder, we gotta take action!! some people say, burning boxes isnt the answer, well ill tell u, we had meetings and meetings with the police,and they did nothing in the end, what more is there to do??
everybody could riot besides us? NO! we gotta stick up for ourselves too!! Boro Park- that was great move!! maybe now the police will talk business, and cut out those tickets!!
crownorion
good job borough park, crownheights should learn from borough park. why alll theis racial epithet from the police. the bypd and state govt are racists.all they do is target jews and blacks, what about all the terrorists living on atlantic avenue whats up with them. racial profiling cant do, well who cares do it!
prevent events before they occur.
shootings, muggings in jewish communities should not be tolerated and more should be done. nypd are racist pigs ,i see them mess with a jew i would act to save my fellow yid.
Shlomo
Lets get things into prespective, yes it was wrong to riot like they did but DO NOT think for one minute that the police acted correctly with the way they treated A 75 YEAR OLD MAN no less!!!
Yes he was talking on a cell phone while driving, but what is wrong with going out of his car to ask the police his name!!! does that warrent an arrest !!!
Are the police not tought to resecpt their olders or does that not apply to NYPD
These officers involved and that police individual that spoke SO disgustingly about the jews, as quoted by councilman Simcha Felder, don’t belong in the police force and should all LOSE THEIR JOB !!! IMMEDIATELY!!!
What’s more troubling is not that these officer acted as they did, you’ll always find those police who abuse their position, what more troubling is the police commissioner & the Mayor defending their actions !!! If the heads don;t see whats wrong no kidding the officers on the street are acting as they are SHOVING AROUND A 75 YEARS MAN FOR NO REASON WHATS SO EVER !!!!!
In the light of the above, when there is no to talk to, NOT MR KELLY, NOT MR BLOOMBERG, because they NEVER see fault in their " GOOD" police department, one can understand the fustration felt by all and those in Boro Park and understand the rioting that occured – NOT THAT IS WAS RIGHT – BUT UNDERSTAND !!!!!
If you care
To all of you above – please take your heads out of the media –
1) the guy was breaking the law by talking on the phone
2) he was stopped at a red light, not parked
3) He did not move when the police were trying to respond to an assault call (unlike CH)
Now imagaine you are driving on Kingston and someone does not move at a green light for 2 seconds, and you see its a old guy who is on the phone, I can bet that you would be pissed,
Here the cop is trying to do his job and protect the place, he pulls behind a car and the guy doesnt move, he goes to the car and there is an old guy who is talking on the cell phone!! He askes for his license and after he is done, the old guy slowly get out of his car, slowly walks over to the cop and askes for his name, all while this guy wants to get to the assault call. I have no problem with the arrest, and maybe he was a little rough, but that is justified in a sad way. The reaction from the bochurim was sad and pathetic. Are you chevra of crown heights really suggesting that we send our 15 year old boys out to mess with police.
In conclusion, let me say this: At the end of the day, there are two stories with bochurim.
CH: Mivtza Tank and Off to Russia
BP: Rioting and fires
I would rather live here
Shmerel
Talking on a cell phone while being deaf?
The cops were probably wrong but it was a bunch of bored angry hunkies.
fight back
at least the boro parkers arent chickens like the pple in crown heights and actually fight back when they think some thing wrong happened
UKNOWN
REFIAH SHELIEME
disapointed
Gosh, good whoever rioted! good for you…
How can you side with the police?, they do this on purpose come around to give tickets to all the jews because they know its almost pesach, the know its busy, and no offence but I am sure that if a non-Jew would run in to get a Xmas tree, they police would…say alrighty, because its a holiday… My father just got a ticket today, for no good reason, he could have let it off…Nice jewish boy? Interesting, because of the language you used…?
BINYAMIN S.
LOOK WHAT POLICE SAY ABOUT CHASSIDIM!! THIS IS AN ACCTUALL POLICE MESSAGE BOARD!!
http://p066.ezboard.com/fny…
G-D BLESS the N.Y.P.D. !!!
Yep. I will say it again and again and AGAIN, until the few ignorant morons who think otherwise will get it.
Would the LUBAVITCHER REBBE ever speak negatively about the Police? NO, NEVER!
Would the REBBE ever condone lighting fires on the street, or damaging a police car and frightening an Officer? NO, NEVER!
What DID the REBBE say? HUH?
The REBBE said that, "the United States of America is a nation of Kindness & Goodness, which treats its Jewish populace with the greatest dignity and respect, and is thus blessed by G-d with superpower status and phenomenal wealth."
Learn from the REBBE, and try to understand that most of you, compared to the REBBE, are like a speck of dust compared to a mountain.
anon
att:if you care:
youd rather live in crown heights, where there are killings and muggings?! where there are tickets given everyday for the only reason becasue we are jews?
im not saying sending bochurim to riot is ok, but is it better to sit back and do abosolutely NOTHING like in ch?
im sure if the police are always nice to us and looking out for us, for this one incident, there wouldnt be this whole thing, buts its the hay that broke the camels back. enough is enought already, we cant just sit back and do nothing!!
MFH
great find. scary stuff they write
Fullofbullver Rebbe
American pograms are right around the corner. Not every one in America is a s "touchy’feely" and chesedik as us Lubavitchers like to believe.
Shocking but necessary post from police msg. brd. Good job Binyamin.
RE. BINYAMIN S.
WOW! Binyamin S, what can i say after reading those police comments on that forum, i am just shocked, let NO ONE ever justify the acts of these cops-bastards.
He was a freakin’ 75 yr old, gosh, and since when were the cops on a call? I mean let’s get this straight, were they on a call, or were they giving the guy a ticket-pick your choice, and even if they WERE on a call, they are not the only cops in BP, and punching him in the face and arresting him won’t rush the call anymore.
Webby. i think we should open already a “Chaptzem unit” in the CH Shomrim, these acts of the cops are dispicable and they must learn their lessons.
You see, in BP they play it smart, when a cop does the slightest stupid thing, BOOM, protest, this way, the even worse things dont happen, and this way, a cop in BP will think twice before he does somethng stupid to a Jew.
So in BP the cops are afraid of Jews-and that’s the way it should be.
But Crown Heights, what happens when such an incident like this happens? the Vaad Hakahal boys cry wa wa to the 71st/77th, and when some concerned residents decide to vent their outrage and arrange a protest, those same Vaad Hakahal PR’niks’s go and get their letters from the Rabbonim and announce in 770 they nobody should attend-and thats history in Crown Heights!!!
O’ sorry i forgot, the next part is that everybody goes and sits like lazy tucheses (like me), and just sits on comments on CH.info, you’r just a bunch of complainer yentes, get up and do something!
We are so divided, we cant even agree on one issue (i hope ya’ all belive in the one above), The only solution to you baby Crown Heightser’s is
Moshiach NOW MaMa’SH!
they got to behind bars
those cops are criminals in uniforms
furious
if police ever say that they needed to arrest this man b/c they were on a call how abt when i was double [parked for around 5 min on kingston ave and cops who were on a call with lights flashing( they were on a call) stopped gave us a ticket and then went on to call a tow truck. so whoever says g-d bless the nypd go read the police board that binyomin so kindly asked all of us to look at and read what ur policemen who do everything so nicely and abide by the letter of the law so well say.
the police are corrupt
to "G-D bless the NYPD" of course the Rebbe never said anything bad about the police- the Rebbe never said anything negetive about anyone! its a couple of years after the Rebbe is not with us b’gashmius, and lately the police have gone too far! how dear they come 15 min. late when that boy was mugged! the whole purim they are everywhere giving tickets for stupid things (my father got 5! and they were NASTY to us) but they cant investigate in E. Klein’s A"H murder. Its been a long time and they dont have ! clue.The police have become messed up and if you cant see that -then you have a problem. But i do agree that the bochurim shouldn’t have done what they did.
kach
I just wanna say to all CH anti’s who’s only concern is PR gimme a break u guys or girls i should say are just insecure ppl scared of ur own shadow stop sucking up and take to the streets! KAHANE CHAI!!
sheyna
To: G-d bless the NYPD.
The Rebbe would NEVER say any Jew is like a
speck of dust compared to someone greater.
EVERY Jew is a diamond to the Rebbe, bar none.
There are no "nothings" amongst the Jewish people.
Everyone has a "chelek Eloka me’maal mamash".
So dont even go that way, friend. Good Shabbos
if you care
attn: anon
We are not the only community were people are killed or mugged, and rioting is not the way for anything positive to be done. Look at what happened here, there was a immediate outcry because the media thought it was a police brutality, but when that was basically disproven, all media blasted BP.
Now, I fully support and call for someone to arrange a demonstration calling for more police protection, and of course the people on that web blog are absolute animals, (the police is a volunteer org, and no one asked them to work there, they accepted it blah blah)
The fact is that it will not help to riot,
Either we mobilize ourselves, or we protest, but rioting goes against what we are,
Lubavitch doesnt take our examples from others because it is cool – we do what is right.
(and now if lubavitch would just realize that!!)
god bless them!!!!
all i can say is god bless thos who need help and when i say help i mean help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
these BP boys are bored-souls!!
FINE the police were wrong
but that doesn’t make the bored boys in boro park any better.
it caused a HUGE CHILLLUL HASHEM and every snag and jew haater took this chance and bashed out chassidim.
annanamous
at least we have somthing better what to
do with our lives we spend it learning ect.
but thos bp’s got nothin betta what to do
then do just defend themselves in a bad way i dont mind if they defend themselves but please do it in a way of understanding that maybe someone will acualy change
thier minds and do something about it!!!!
god bless the jewish nation like one beachdus !!!!! and BLESS THE NYPD i mean it!!!!!!!!
Jewish Press
Webby why do you cwoat from the NY times thay are ani-semetic
Anonymous
Jewish Press:
To show how anti-semetic they really are!
a real jew
ever wonder why a police officer will treat a jew more respectively then a black
JEWS DONT RIOT
and if you tell the police that we are not a special naition, they will treat us as blacks
im sure that is the last thing that you need
A. B. Schreiber
If we don’t show that we stand up for each other and will not stand for police abuses, the abuses will continue and get worse.
The violent anti-semitisim on police blogs is scary. It’s only the knowledge that we stand up for each other that keeps the police from totally abusing us on a daily basis.
Even some anti-semetic cops added at the end of their anti-semetic comments that if only the cops would stand up for each other like the Jews do, they’d be in good shape.
Chillul Hashem? Would you call the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising a Chillul Hashem?