Teens Attack Jewish Boys In Crown Heights Hate Crime, Cops Say

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A group of teens went after two Jewish boys walking down the street in Crown Heights earlier this month, knocking their hats off and smacking one in the head, police said.

The 14 and 15-year-old boys, both dressed in traditional Jewish garb, were walking near the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Albany Avenue around 6 p.m. on Nov. 11 when the group of five teens came up to them, police said.

The teens smacked the 14-year-old in the head, knocking his Yarmulke off, and then grabbed a fedora off of the 15-year-old's head, police said. They ran down Albany Avenue toward Saint Johns Place and threw the fedora to the ground, police said.

Cops said that there were no injuries from the incident and that there were no police statements made afterwards.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attack, they said.

The suspects were all described as male teenagers.

One was last seen wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, a dark jacket and a ski mask. Another was last seen wearing red hooded sweatshirt, grey hooded jacket with a backpack. The third was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, jeans, white sneakers and a backpack. The fourth was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with a dark fur lined hooded jacket, and the fifth was last seen wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, jeans and dark sneakers.

All of the boys were described as having a thin build except for the teen in the ski mask.

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, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.