A 64-year-old rabbi was punched and hit in the face with a paving stone — knocking out some teeth — while on a morning walk through a Crown Heights park, cops and relatives said.
Rabbi Avraham Gopin, father-in-law of popular Hasidic singer Benny Friedman, was taking his usual stroll through Lincoln Terrace Park on Tuesday when a man threw a stone toward him just around 7:40 a.m, according to cops.
Gopin, who was wearing a yarmulke, confronted the random man — prompting him to cock back and punch the Jewish leader in the face, cops said.
The two struggled, and at one point, the unknown attacker hit Gopin with the paving stone, according to police.
The assailant took off, and Gopin went to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition, but missing a few of his front teeth. He also suffered a broken nose and lacerations on his body, according to Friedman.
The Chassidic vocalist, who also lives in Brooklyn, described the entire ordeal in a series of tweets on Tuesday afternoon — saying the attacker “had murder on his mind.”
“This morning, at 7:45am, my father in law went for his morning walk, like he always does. Suddenly a man started yelling at him, and started chasing him, holding a huge brick,” Friedman said. “My FIL says there was no question this man had murder on his mind. My father in law tried to defend himself…Thank Gd, all things considered, my father in law is doing ok. Thank you Councilman @ChaimDeutsch for your help and concern. We need safer communities. Where I come from in Minnesota, this would be front page headlines. But here in Brooklyn this is just the latest event.”
No arrests have been made in connection to Gopin’s assault. The NYPD was investigating the attack as a possible hate crime.
“Has it become too dangerous for openly religious Jewish men to walk the streets of NYC?” tweeted Councilman Deutsch.
A number of Jewish residents have been attacked in Brooklyn over the past year.
Police arrested two teens — and took two others into custody — earlier this month in connection to a string of attacks on Hasidic men in Williamsburg. The victims were between the ages of 56 and 71.
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