The Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating a brutal assault on a Jewish man in a Crown Heights park on Tuesday morning.
The 63-year-old victim, who was reportedly wearing a yarmulke, was jogging through Lincoln Terrace Park near Buffalo and East New York avenues at around 7:40 a.m., when the suspect threw a rock in his direction, according to police.
The victim confronted the rogue rock thrower and the pair brawled, leading the brute to smash a paving stone into the victim’s face, knocking out his two front teeth, cops said.
First responders took the bloodied victim to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition for treatment, according to police.
The altercation is being investigated as a possible hate crime, cops said.
A Sheepshead Bay lawmaker took to Twitter on Tuesday morning, when he questioned the safety of Jews wearing religious garb in response to the attack.
“Has it become too dangerous for openly religious Jewish men to walk the streets of NYC?” asked Councilman Chaim Deutsch.
Hate crimes against Jews have spiked across the city, with 82 incidents in the first quarter of 2019 versus only 45 during the same period in 2018, according to city stats.
Anyone with information in regards to the identity of this male 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.NYPDC
All calls are strictly confidential.
