Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Victim in Videotaped Police Beating Speaks Out

Ehud Halevy, the Jewish man whose beating at the hands of two New York City police officers earlier this month was captured on videotape, reportedly called the cops’ actions “irresponsible and not ethical.”

Halevy spoke with the New York Times recently about the October 8 incident inside a youth center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Halevy told the Times that Officer Luis A. Vega, “told me to leave,” and “I told him I had a right and permission to stay where I am. He wouldn’t listen. I swore at him. He tried handcuffing me. I pulled my hand away, and then he started beating me up.”

Halevy was pepper sprayed and punched numerous times in the head and body. After having watched the video, Halevy described the officers’ actions as, “irresponsible and not ethical.”

Halevy had been given permission to sleep inside the Aliya center, but police were called when a security guard found Halevy shirtless on a couch in the facility.

On Wednesday, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office formally dismissed all charges against Halevy for assaulting a police officer.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.