Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, left, poses with his father, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, in this undated photo at the U.S. Capitol. Photo by Art Spack

By Beth Harpaz February 2, 2024

Police in Washington, D.C., charged a Lyft driver with assaulting a Chabad rabbi. 

Tireek Myrick, 32, was charged with simple assault, according to D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. The victim, Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, 29, who runs Chabad Georgetown, was punched and hit in the face and said the driver also used his car key to scratch him. 

Shemtov believes he was assaulted because the driver knew from his appearance that he is Jewish. The driver “knocked off my yarmulke, was blocking me from getting it,” Shemtov was quoted as saying. “This was definitely fueled by a lot of hate.”

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Police said in a statement that the incident was being investigated as “being potentially motivated by hate or bias,” although Myrick was not immediately charged with a hate crime. Prosecutors did not respond Friday to a request for more information. The charge of simple assault is used in cases where the victim was not seriously injured. 

Lyft removed Myrick from its roster.

Driver charged in unrelated burglary

In announcing Myrick’s arrest, the police said they also charged Myrick with burglary in connection with a separate case in which his customers canceled a tip for him because they said he failed to deliver a food order. Police charged Myrick with kicking the customers’ door in, demanding money from them and stealing a computer.

In the incident involving Shemtov, the police report said it unfolded Jan. 28 after Shemtov got in the Lyft vehicle and asked the driver to turn down the volume on the music he was playing. Police said the driver then canceled the ride, the rabbi got out of the car, and the driver followed him on foot and assaulted him.

Shemtov told police that the driver told him, “I don’t like your energy,” and accused him of slamming the car door. The rabbi and a witness on the street who tried to intervene shot video of the incident. Shemtov also posted pictures of his bruised face, for which he sought medical treatment. 

Shemtov is the son of Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who hosted Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner for services at a Chabad house when the power couple lived in Washington, D.C., during the administration of Ivanka’s father, former President Donald Trump. Abraham Shemtov, Levi’s father and Menachem’s grandfather, launched the tradition of lighting a menorah in front of the White House during the Carter administration.

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