NYPD Release Video Of Hate Crime Attackers In Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A group of four men caught on video are responsible for the latest anti-Semitic attack in Williamsburg, police said.

The four men, shown in surveillance video walking down the street, are wanted for assaulting a 42-year-old man who was walking down Broadway around 1:15 a.m. on Saturday. The man, who was in traditional religious clothes, was walking westbound near Lynch Street when the group attacked him and started making anti-Semitic comments, police said.

The victim did not seek medical attention, but had bruises and swelling on his face, police said.

The four men are believed to be in their early 20s. Three were wearing all black and another was wearing a black du-rag and a gray sweat suit, police said.

The attack is being investigated by the Hate Crime Task Force.

It is also the latest in an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes both in Williamsburg and city-wide.

Just last week, police released data that shows that hate crimes against Jewish people in New York City nearly doubled in the first four months of this year.

The NYPD had recorded 82 anti-Semitic hate crimes as of April 30, up from just 45 in the same period last year. Those incidents account for more than half of the 145 hate crimes the city saw in that period, which marks a 67% increase from 2018, police statistics released Thursday show.

Anti-Semitic incidents were also a major factor for a rise in hate crimes in the city last year.

In the Williamsburg area specifically, elected officials held a meeting earlier this year to discuss a series of stickers with messages of hate speech that were posted around Greenpoint. In February, the window of a synagogue was smashed in as the rabbi and his family celebrated the Sabbath dinner inside. A few months ago, two members of the Jewish community were attacked on the same block in a week.

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.