Police arrested a troubled homeless man for threatening to behead an Arab community leader in Bay Ridge on Sept. 3.
Prosecutors say Brian Boshell terrorized two members of the Arab American Association of New York, chasing them several blocks through Bay Ridge, hurling slurs and a garbage can, and telling them he wanted to lop off their heads.
“I am going to cut your heads off like your people did to us,” he allegedly shouted at association director Linda Sarsour and a co-worker, according to a criminal complaint.
The alleged attack came just one day after the terrorist organization calling itself the Islamic State released a video depicting the beheading of an American journalist in the Middle East.
Sarsour saw the man — whom she knew from the neighborhood but had never spoken with — sleeping outside her Fifth Avenue office at noon. She instructed a co-worker to call the police to have them move Boshell, she said. Then moments later, when she and deputy director Kayla Santosuosso left the office for a meeting, the man reportedly sprang up and launched into his tirade, according to Sarsour.
“Out of nowhere he gets up like he got a burst of energy and started chasing us toward Ovington Avenue,” she said. “He had something in his pocket — all we could see was the handle. It was like the handle of a screwdriver or something.”
Boshell allegedly pursued the women and threw a city garbage can at them, the complaint states. Santouosso made a frantic call to 911 as the pair fled, ducking into a nearby business to avoid their attacker, Sarsour said.
But police didn’t show for 45 minutes, according to Sarsour, who said that even without the chilling threat and hateful slurs, a report from any woman of an attempted assault in progress should have prompted a swifter response.
“It was a normal call, like any woman calling saying she was being chased in the street, which I think is important,” she said. “I don’t think adding that the guy was saying anti-Muslim stuff makes it important. Clearly they should have gotten there.”
About 20 minutes after the 911 call, Boshell left the scene, so Sarsour went looking for police, whom she found at a nearby bagel shop, she said.
The 68th Precinct’s commanding officer and community affairs unit did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Sarsour said police need to take calls about attacks on women more seriously — especially in a neighborhood where many women wear traditional garments that can restrict movement.
“There are women in our community who don’t dress like me — they wear long dresses, abayas,” said Sarsour, who covers her head but often wears jeans. “If there was a woman trying to run from a man wearing one of those, you’re not as free to run as when you’re wearing pants.”
Police eventually picked up Boshell later that evening, and prosecutors are charging the 45-year-old with several counts of attempted assault, menacing, weapons possession, and committing a hate crime, court papers show. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.
The suspect’s brother said Boshell has been living on the street for years after a family tragedy, and that local law enforcement knows him well.
“His mother was killed in a car crash and he’s never been the same since,” said Bill Boshell. “He’s been locked up 100 times since for nuisance stuff — throwing tomatoes at the meter maid — but this woman’s a high-profile lady. I’m not sticking up for Brian — he’s been a pain in the ass for a long time — he just needs to go away and dry out.”
