Crime & Safety

Cop Hit By Drone, Another By Car At Brooklyn Rabbi's Funeral

A crowded funeral for a rabbi in Borough Park left two officers injured after one was hit by a car and another by a drone, police said.

BOROUGH PARK, BROOKLYN — Two police officers were injured in a crowded funeral procession in Borough Park Tuesday afternoon after one was hit by a car and another in the head with a drone, police said.

Police confirmed that one officer had been hit by a car near 14th Avenue and 58th Street and taken to Lutheran Hospital with minor injuries. Another was apparently hit in the head by a drone at the same funeral procession, NYPD Commissioner James P. O'Neill told reporters in a press conference on crime statistics.

"There are two things that happened— there was a drone that came out of the sky (and) hit a police officer, I think minor injuries," O'Neill said. "And there was a police officer that was injured by a car in the funeral possession."

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The officer hit by a car may have broken an ankle, he added. Both an NYPD spokesman and an FDNY spokesman said they did not have information about the reported drone strike, but the police spokesman did confirm that one officer was hit by a car.

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The funeral procession was for Rabbi Yisroel Avrohom Portugal, who was born in 1924 in Romania to Rabbie Eliezer Zusia Portugal who founded the Skulen Hasidic dynasty, according to NBC New York.

NBC also reported that the car that hit the officer was a hearse, though an NYPD spokesman could not confirm the type of car.

Here is a livestream of the conference:

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