Police arrested a Brownsville man on hate crime charges on Sept. 12 for allegedly beating a Rabbi with a paving stone in Crown Heights.
The 26-year-old suspect, who was cuffed on charges including assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon, was immediately hospitalized following his arrest, cops said.
Police Department spokeswoman Officer Arlene Muniz could not comment regarding why he was hospitalized.
The 63-year-old Jewish leader was walking through Lincoln Terrace Park near Buffalo and East New York avenues in the early morning hours of Aug. 27, when the 26-year-old suspect threw a rock at him, which missed, according to police.
A scuffle ensued when the rabbi confronted the stone hurler, leading his alleged attacker to savagely smash a massive paving stone into the victim’s face, knocking out his two front teeth, cops said.
First responders took the victim to Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.
The victim’s son-in-law, popular Hasidic singer Benny Friedman, took to Twitter the day after the attack to praise his father-in-law and blast his attacker as an anti-Semite.
“This is absolutely frightening, and obviously something that a civilization should never tolerate,” said Friedman. “This morning my father in law was back in the park. He refuses to be afraid, and he will not let evil or hate determine how he lives his life.”
