Man Charged With Hate Crime For Punching Hasidic Jew In Brooklyn
(JTA) — New York police have arrested a man alleged to have punched a Hasidic Jewish man in the head, and charged him with a hate crime.
In addition to the hate crime charge, Eric Gerena, 32, who was arrested on Tuesday, was charged with assault in the third degree.
The attack on Friday night felled the Hasidic man who was wearing a shtreimel, a traditional fur hat, and talking with a group of similarly dressed men outside of a synagogue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The man did not use any anti-Semitic slurs or racial epithets during the attack, which was captured on surveillance video.
Gerena has a rap sheet, but it includes no prior hate crimes, police told the New York Post.
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief
