The driver of a minivan deliberately backed up twice over five hasidic men as they stood on a street corner in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn on Saturday evening after Shabbat before speeding away.
The attack was caught on camera and began circulating on social media. The attacker was arrested a day later after a neighborhood watch group found his van.
The surveillance footage clearly shows the parked minivan backing up, even though there are no parked cars in front of it, and hitting a group of hasidic men standing on the street corner. The car backs into the five men, who fall to the ground. The driver pauses and then backs over them a second time being fleeing the scene.
The attack took place at 10:15pm on Saturday.
According to police, the driver initially stayed at the scene briefly as one witness tried to get his attention. He then drove away.
The victims are all related and range from 11 to 82-years old. None suffered life threatening injuries. The 82-year old man injured his foot and need medical care at a nearby hospital.
On Sunday, members of the Shomrim volunteer neighborhood patrol group spotted the minivan in Bedford-Stuyvesant. They called police.
Twenty-six year old Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinov was arrested shortly after, reported the NY Daily News. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) called the hit and run a “horrific antisemitic attack in Williamsburg.”
“A driver pulls over, waits for a group of Jewish men to cross the street, and intentionally hits them twice with his car. We stand in full solidarity with the victims and thank @NYPD90Pct for the swift arrest of a suspect,” the AJC tweeted.
THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME
That name sounds Muslim from a former Soviet Asian republic. Kind of like the name of those aiding the Boston Marathon rotzchim.
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