Man Is Charged With Hate Crime in Stabbing Near Brooklyn Synagogue
The New York Times
The police said the man, Vincent Sumpter, yelled “Free Palestine” before stabbing another man near the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
A 22-year-old Brooklyn man was charged with assault as a hate crime after the police said he yelled “Free Palestine” and “Do you want to die?” before stabbing a young man near a synagogue in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn early Saturday morning.
The 22-year-old man, Vincent Sumpter, was charged with second-degree assault as a hate crime in the attack, which occurred around 2 a.m. Saturday on Kingston Avenue, around the corner from the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement on Eastern Parkway. It was unclear on Sunday whether he had been arraigned or had a lawyer.
Yaacov Behrman, a rabbi who is a spokesman for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, said that Mr. Sumpter exchanged words with the victim, whom he identified as Yechiel Michel Dabrowskin, before stabbing him once in the chest. Rabbi Behrman said that Mr. Dabrowskin, who is Jewish and about 30 years old, was taken to Maimonides Medical Center and was expected to recover from his wounds.
“This is obviously a very serious incident, and there has been a lot of antisemitic rhetoric,” Rabbi Behrman said. “I’m concerned that unless this rhetoric stops, it’s going to become more common, sadly.”
A surveillance video shows a brief confrontation on the sidewalk between a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a backpack and several young men in white shirts and black pants. The man in the sweatshirt thrusts his right arm repeatedly toward one of the group of men and continues walking toward them before turning and running away. Several men are then seen running after him.
Rabbi Behrman said the attacker provoked the group by yelling “Free Palestine.” When they approached him to ask why, he responded, “Do you want to die?” Rabbi Behrman said. That was when he stabbed the victim and fled, he said.
