The NYPD is investigating a hit-and-run in Crown Heights that left a 55-year-old man with an injury to his leg. Photo by Twitter

By Adam Kovac January 9, 2023

Police are investigating a hit-and-run in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, that left a Hasidic man injured on Friday. 

In dramatic video of the incident, a white BMW makes a left turn, colliding with the 55-year-old man, who rolls off the hood. The man is heard screaming as the car immediately accelerates away. A woman is then seen running down the sidewalk calling out “Hatzalah,” a volunteer emergency health service that operates in the area. 

Right next to my house this Friday night. What seems to be a targeted antisemitic attack.
Frightening and scary. pic.twitter.com/Go3eKdYg9D

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— ????? ????? (@MeyerLabin) January 8, 2023

A second video obtained by the Crown Heights Shmira civilian patrol group and posted by local news outlets shows the incident from a different angle. In that video, the car rolls up to a red light, stops briefly and then makes the left turn. While the driver’s intent is unclear, the car appears headed toward the victim while turning.

A hit-and-run left a 55-year-old man injured in Crown Heights on Friday. Video footage indicates the driver may have done it intentionally - he stops at a red light, then accelerates to turn left and seemingly veers into the victim on purpose. pic.twitter.com/rRCVjoBmMH

— Adam Kovac (@AdamJKovac) January 9, 2023

Police said the victim was taken to Cobble Hill Health Center for treatment. According to Meyer Labin, who lives near the site of the crash, the man suffered a serious leg injury.

No arrests have been made. 

The Times of Israel reported Tuesday morning that the New York Police Department reported 263 antisemitic hate crimes in 2022, a 34% jump from the 196 reported in 2021, and more than double the 121 reported last year. That amounts to one every 33 hours, the news outlet noted. The incidents include violent assault, verbal harassment, property damage, and antisemitic graffiti, and the records show more crimes targeting Jews were reported than those targeting any other minority group.

In a tweet, New York State Attorney General Letitia James called the incident “horrific” and asked anyone with information to come forward to police. 

This is horrific.

I’m praying that this man makes a full recovery, and if you have any information about who committed this abhorrent act, contact @NYPDnews immediately.https://t.co/nQx5J3p7fE

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) January 8, 2023

Police officials and the Crown Heights Shmira did not immediately respond to requests for comment. While social media posts speculated that the incident was antisemitic, it was unclear whether the NYPD was investigating it as a bias crime.

The Lubavitcher movement is headquartered in Crown Heights and the streets are often busy on Fridays in the late afternoon as locals prepare for Shabbat. Police said the hit-and-run happened at around 4 p.m. One commenter on social media, explaining why the young woman in the video ran down the street calling out for an emergency ambulance, pointed out that passersby might not have been carrying cellphones as sundown neared.

Brooklyn has seen a rash of antisemitic attacks over the past few years. Last January, the Anti-Defamation League offered a $5,000 reward for information on an attack on a 21-year-old Hasidic man in Crown Heights. In May, a man wearing traditional Hasidic clothing was taken to hospital after he was punched on the street. According to the ADL, New York led the country in antisemitic incidents in 2021 with 416 incidents, a 24% increase over the previous year.

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