A driver jumped a curb and tried to mow down people outside an Orthodox Jewish school in New York on Wednesday, authorities said.
The driver of a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria shouted anti-Semitic remarks as his car left the road and drove toward people on the sidewalk near East 56th Street and Glenwood Road shortly before 11:25 a.m. in Brooklyn, according to a news release from the New York City Police Department. .
Surveillance video showed at least two people, wearing yarmulkes and long black clothing, running for cover and away from the oncoming car.
Ali Asghar, 58, was arrested and charged with a range of offenses, including attempted second-degree murder, considered a hate crime, officials said.
It was unclear Thursday morning whether the suspect had hired or been assigned a criminal attorney to speak on his behalf.
New York City Council member Farah Louis called the incident in her district, at the Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School, a “senseless act of bigotry and violence.”
“No group or community should live in fear of violence, discrimination or intimidation, and we must confront the growing trend of anti-Semitism to prevent such hateful acts in the future,” he said. she declared in a press release.
A representative for the school could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Wednesday’s incident occurred about two weeks after a 12-year-old boy allegedly kicked and punched two Hasidic Jewish boys who were playing on Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn, about 5 miles north of the scene. of the car attack, police said.
The young attacker was arrested and charged with third-degree assault and second-degree harassment as hate crimes.