UPDATE: Man Arrested on Hate Crimes Charge Following Anti-Semitic Attack
UPDATE (12/5/18): Police have announced that a suspect in the attack on a Jewish man last week has been arrested on charges of committing a hate crime.
Enrique Gerena, 32, was arrested by NYPD for third-degree assault as a hate crime for sucker-punching a 33-year-old man on Throop Street in Williamsburg. The incident was caught on video.
It’s not the Bed-Stuy resident’s first run-in with the law, however. Sources told the New York Post that he was arrested for assaulting two paramedics while on drugs in an ambulance, shortly after another arrest for attempting to steal someone’s wallet at a homeless shelter. The previous year, Gerena allegedly menaced his brother with a knife in a dispute over money.
Police are still investigating a previous attack on a young Jewish boy that occurred in the same area, but no arrests have been made in that case.
WILLIAMSBURG – On Friday, yet another unprovoked attack against a Jewish man in Brooklyn became the latest in a disturbing string of anti-Semitic incidents ranging from vandalism to assault.
The attack occurred on the night on November 30, around 6:40 pm, as Orthodox men wearing shtreimels (a traditional fur hat) stood outside 68 Throop Avenue, near Wallabout Street.
Approaching the group on foot, the heavyset suspect breaks into a jog and throws a haymaker at his victim, a 33-year-old man, striking him on the back of the head. The attacker fled southbound on Throop, police said.
The attack left the victim with minor injuries, said police. The incident was also captured on surveillance video, which can be seen below:
On the previous weekend, just one block away, a 9-year-old Jewish boy was similarly assaulted, punched and knocked down by a stranger seemingly at random.
Already, politicians have gathered to condemn the string of anti-Semitic crimes across Brooklyn, and many spoke out online following this latest attack:
The chilling rise of anti-Semitic attacks in NYC is alarming and systemic. These attacks require more than public denunciations. A systemic response is needed from the city administration and law enforcement community.
— Mark Treyger (@MarkTreyger718) December 2, 2018
As always, anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.