5 Hasidic Jews arrested for assaulting gay man in NYC
'I'm walking down some block by myself and then the next thing I know, I'm surrounded by a group of Hasidic Jewish men and they're attacking me'; Perpetrators charged with gang assault, but won't face hate crime charges.
Five Hasidic Jews have been arrested Wednesday for attacking a gay black fashion student in Williamsburg last December, the New York Daily News reported, citing police sources.
Early December, Taj Peterson was attacked while he was walking home from a party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. According to Peterson, over a dozen ultra-Orthodox men assaulted him while shouting anti-gay slurs.
Aharon Hollender, 28, Abraham Winkler, 39, Mayer Herskovic, 21, Pinchas Braver, 19, and Joseph Fried, 25, were all charged with gang assault and other offenses. However, no hate crime charges have been filed against the offenders, the website reported
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“We simply cannot allow anyone walking on the streets of Brooklyn to be knocked to the ground, stomped and brutally beaten,” the Daily News quoted Brooklyn district attorney Kenneth Thompson as saying.
At least two members of the group belong to Williamsburg Shomrim, a Hasidic volunteer watch group that patrols the neighborhood.
"I'm walking down some block by myself and then the next thing I know, I'm surrounded by a group of Hasidic Jewish men and they're attacking me," Patterson told the website in December. "I was alone. I was an easy target. I'm black. I'm gay, a whole slew of reasons."
Patterson further told that he remembered the main instigator kicking him in the face, shouting "stay down, f----t, stay the f--- down.”
The 22-year-old suffered several injuries as a result of the attack, including a broken eye socket, a torn retina, bruises and blood clotting.
All five suspects were brought before the Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday and released on bail. If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in jail.
