A rash of hate crimes plaguing Jewish Brooklynites continued with a pair of anti-Semitic assaults around the New Year, leading police to arrest a 24-year-old woman as investigators seek two additional suspects.
The 22-year-old Hasidic victim told police that the suspect — along with another individual — shouted anti-Semitic slurs at him near Broadway and Gerry Street shortly after noon, before snatching his cellphone, throwing it to the ground, and punching him in the throat, according to police.
Cops caught up with the suspects shortly afterward and charged the 24-year-old with felony assault and criminal mischief, but released her 34-year-old accomplice without charges, according to a Police Department spokeswoman.
The suspect is expected to be arraigned before Kings County Supreme Court Thursday night, according to Oren Yaniv, a spokesman for District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office — who could not immediately confirm whether they will charge the suspect with a hate crime.
The attack comes less than 24 hours after two knife-wielding men assaulted a Jewish teen on a bus in Sheepshead Bay.
The 15-year-old boy told cops that the bigots snatched his headphones while shouting anti-Semitic slurs at Avenue U and E. 16th Street around 4:30 pm on New Years Eve, before hightailing it out of the bus near Kings Plaza.
The perps also reportedly took off the boy’s yarmulke, according to the New York Post.
The Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task force is investigating the attack, and cops are still looking for the two men, according to a spokeswoman
The New Years incidents follow a series of anti-Semitic attacks across the borough during Hanukkah, which drew widespread condemnation from elected officials scrambling for ways to address the sudden gluttony of hate crimes.
Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have directed more city and state police to patrol Jewish enclaves — and the state’s chief executive paid a visit to Williamsburg’s Hasidic community on Jan. 1 as a show of solidarity.
“Everybody feels very upset and disturbed about what happened and everybody stands in solidarity with you,” said Gov. Cuomo. “So I’m here today, not just for me, I’m here representing all the people of the State of New York who want to say they’re sorry about the tragedy and they stand with you in total solidarity and love, because that’s what we are.”
But a cadre of local elected officials representing Orthodox neighborhoods said that wasn’t enough, demanding in a letter mailed on Sunday that Cuomo also direct federal help from the New York National Guard to protect the religious areas.
