Boy, 15, Faces Hate Crime Charges In Attack On Rabbi In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 15-year-old boy faces hate crime charges in connection with an attack on a rabbi visiting New York from Israel.
Rabbi Haim, who was in town for a cancer treatment, said he was attacked at the Marcy Avenue J Train elevated station in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, around 4 p.m. Monday.
Haim said he was waiting for the train to visit a friend in Manhattan, when a teen tried to grab his wallet from his back pocket.
"I look at him. He says, 'Why are you looking at me?' And he starts to say, 'Bloody Jew,' and bad things – cursing," Haim told CBS2 on Tuesday.
Two more teens joined in, ripping an umbrella out of his hand and beating him over the head with it, Haim said.
The teens then allegedly kicked him in the leg and back.
"They start to say, 'Dirty Jew, bloody Jew,' and other things," Haim said, "I don't say it. It's not for me. It's not my level to say all the cursing they say."
Police said another bystander who tried to aid Rabbi Haim was also attacked. The three suspects escaped on a Manhattan-bound M Train, police said.
The teen turned himself in and is charged as a juvenile with assault as a hate crime, CBS2 reported.
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