The Muslim suspect who beat an elderly Hasidic Jewish man in Boro Park on Sunday has now been charged with a hate crime.
Sources confirmed to YWN that the Brooklyn District Attorney upgraded the charges on Friday afternoon, after inexplicably resisting calls and recomendations all week to do so.
Farrukh Afzal, 37, of Staten Island, has 8 prior arrests.
As reported on YWN, Afzal reportedly shouted “Allah, Allah”, said he wanted to “kill all Jews” and made references to ‘Israel’ while viciously beating 62-year-old R’ Lipa Schwartz on Sunday.
The attack appeared to be unprovoked (not that anything could ever justify such a heinous act).
Schwartz said he feared for his life during the attack: “I’m telling you if he had a knife he would stab me right on the place. No doubt,” Schwartz said.
Furthermore, video footage appeared to show Afzal switch lanes and nearly hit ANOTHER Jewish pedestrian, then blow a red light as he sped down 13th Ave enroute to 46th street where he viciously beat Schwartz.
FOOTAGE OF ASSAULT IN VIDEO BELOW – VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
YWN was at the forefront of the pressure campaign to have D.A. Eric Gonzalez upgrade the charges, documenting much of the disturbing nature of the attack. A final point was the revelation that Afzal had been released on a mere $15,000 bail, indicating that the powers that be were not treating this case with the severity it warranted.
[MAILBAG: Outraged That Brooklyn D.A. Not Charging Boro Park Attacker With Hate Crime]
Afzal’s lawyer claimed that Schwartz had punched the window of his client’s car during an alleged argument that started when Afzal honked his horn, frustrated by how long it took the 62-year-old to cross the street. The lawyer claims the two men were yelling at each other, which led to the alleged hitting of the window and ultimately, the assault in the street.
On Monday, however, NY Assemblyman Dov Hikind slammed those trying to “mischaracterize” the attack as anything but a vicious hate crime.
“Mr. Schwartz has been characterized in some reports as having had a prior incident with his attacker; an encounter that led to “road rage” as some described it. But this is patently untrue. Mr. Schwartz never saw his attacker before. He did not encounter him that morning prior to being attacked. Mr. Schwartz simply got up, washed, dressed, and headed for synagogue. He was a block from his home when a car screeched to a halt and someone charged at him, knocked him down and began to viciously beat him”, Hikind said.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind addressing the media with Mr. Schwartz on Sunday night:
TY @BrooklynDA for presenting a hate crime charge against the assailant in Sunday’s assault in Boro Park. It is important that, in a high-profile case like this, the attacker is held accountable for his actions. Kudos again to @BPShomrim for their role in apprehending the perp!
— Councilman Deutsch (@ChaimDeutsch) October 19, 2018
The system works.@BrooklynDA Eric Gonzalez obtained an indictment charging the vicious criminal who assaulted a resident of our community with multiple felonies and hate crime enhancement. https://t.co/2Q0j5vVD5t via @YWN
— Kalman Yeger (@KalmanYeger) October 19, 2018
Boro Park attacker is now charged with a Hate Crime. After attacking Jews with screams of “Allah! Allah!” was there ever a doubt? Kudos to @NYPD66Pct for calling it right and to @BrooklynDA for now bringing these charges. https://t.co/IErxJ9IYLB
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) October 19, 2018
#BoroPark #Shomrim, @BrooklynCB12 and the @BrooklynDA’s office are working #HandInHand on the evidence from the assault this past Sunday morning on 13th Avenue to ensure the attacker is prosecuted to the fullest extent. #TeamWork pic.twitter.com/bjJCFVDHaL
— Boro Park Shomrim (@BPShomrim) October 16, 2018
Maira Riaz, Afzal’s sister-in-law, told the NY Post that Afzal is “a good guy” who “just has a case of paranoia and schizophrenia”.
“He’s been seeing things and believes he’s a prophet,” she said of Afzal. “He’s just off his meds. He has nothing against anyone and doesn’t want to kill any Jewish person.”
Schwartz’s family and many in the Boro Park community were angered at the prosecutor’s decision to drop hate charges against Afzal.
“He’d been hit, he’d been attacked, all this, and now it’s not a hate crime?” Schwartz’s son, Isaac, 20, told the Post.
R’ Lipa Schwartz dancing in Shul on Sunday night; thanking Hashem that he survived the vicious attack:
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18 Responses
Hate crime should be punishable by the electric chair in public. No matter your opinion on others violence is never the answer!!!!!!!!!!!🇺🇸
So if it is now a hate crime, will the bail be raised to a higher $ amount?
Real refugees have no place to go. Seems that the people whom want to cause grave harm to the are allowed to come into the place of refuge and try to kill them. I do hope people like his attacker will be severely punished by the law and deported back to their country of origin. That man deserves ten years in Gautama.
Ruchie Freier who authorized Afzal’s release on a mere $15,000 bail. Now after analyzing her misjudgment I truly believe that she should “go back to the kitchen full time” and learn to make a decent Cholent, she is not fit to be a judge she belongs at home. There is much more to say on this sensitive matter but here is not the place to spill the beans, after all she might of meant well but she proved that is not capable of being a judge. Many Frum women is the spot lite don’t bring Kavod shomayim!!!
In this weeks Parsah The Torah teaches us about Our mother Sorah, she was indoors not in the public…
This was her pride, not showing herself in the open. “וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו אַיֵּה שָׂרָה אִשְׁתֶּךָ וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה “בָאֹהֶל She was inside indoors…
רבי מאיר משמיה דרבי מאיר (בראשית יח, ט) איה שרה אשתך ויאמר “הנה באהל” להודיע ששרה אמנו “צנועה” היתה
Yes she was full of Tznius by being inside and not on the front page, NOT in the spot light etc.
And who was the Judge who decided to release Afzal on a mere $15,000 bail? Our own Chassidishe [sic] hero Judge Mrs. R Freier.
Hate crime or no, he has not been convicted of anything, so he has a RIGHT to bail set at the lowest amount that is likely to induce him to show up for his trial.
But now afzals lawyer will say it was a political hate crime charge and will seek to get ALL charges dropped, Gonzalez did this to sabotage it, very sneaky.
Welcome to election time. Any amount of pressure on politisions will overturn a judgement ,whether it means for the good or for bad.
Love all
October 19, 2018 4:43 pm at 4:43 pm
Hate crime should be punishable by the electric chair in public. No matter your opinion on others violence is never the answer!!!!!!!!!!!
—————————
Would u sing the same song when your heimishe, mikva yid, neighbor is convicted of a hate crime?
Thank you Eric Gonzalez for finally coming to the right conclusion, and thank you to all askanim who kept the pressure on the DA to charge this terrorist with hate crime.
Thank you to Judge Ruchie Freier for allowing a terrorist to roam the streets. Thank you to all of you who voted to make “history” by electing the first Hasidic women to the Court instead of an experienced jurist who would make us proud.
Judge Ruchie Freier recused herself from the case on Friday in court, the case was assigned to Judge Raymond Rodriguez who upheld Judge Freier’s decision to keep the Bail at $15,000 despite that the DA upgraded the charges from a 3rd degree Attempted Assault to a Hate Crime, because it’s a high bail amount, so he will remain in Jail until his trial.
Well if this Freir thing (The one who killed a Jewish lady by not calling Hatzalah at 2AM when a woman went into cardiac arrest and she called 911 to back her up and it took 8 minutes
!!!!!!!!! for the first person to arrive versus Hatzalah which has members sitting in “Truck 1” all night and that arrive there in seconds to save lives!!!!!!!!!) will reside on this case then this anti Semite will be freed anyway, we must make sure that she is not elected for another term.
GPG:
Your comment is pure rechilus, and should really be removed by the moderators on YWN. Judge Freier was not on the scene at the event you characterize as a murder. There are policies in place to cover such events, and the volunteers there did not follow them. This is not the fault of Ezras Noshim, nor Judge Freier. No one denies that this was a goofup. Your blame pointing is your own anger (perhaps justified) but at the wrong target. Your efforts to baschmutz her will haunt you, as outlined well by the Chofetz Chaim. I am not happy about the bail set either, but your comment was not only way over the top, but dishonest, and more reflective of your deficiency of midos.
Go Pupa Go -“The one who killed a Jewish lady by not calling Hatzalah at 2AM when a woman went into cardiac arrest and she called 911 to back her up and it took 8 minutes”
Btw Mr. Hatzola, It’s not the BLS squad job to call Hatzola, it’s the family’s job!
The job of the BLS Squad is to assess the situation & if the patient needs ALS – then they call for it.
Soon Hatzola won’t do pregnancy calls – it will be Ezras Noshim.
Takes2-2tango,
I absolutely would hate isn’t a religion it says you can not live with others.
@TLIK:
Your name really suits you!!!
I’m sure you don’t see all the propaganda that she puts out bashing Hatzalah and all the dedicated volunteers that basically give up their personal life to be able to save Jews.
I’m sure you don’t know all the legal battles that Hatzalah had to fight due to this “Feminist”.
And BTW, when Hatzalah makes a mistake (which BH is very uncommon!!!!) she is the first one to go on Live TV to elaborate on it.
Check your facts before sounding like a total mourn.
@Health:
As an Hatzolah Member myself, let me enlighten you how it works within normal protocol: if someone from Monsey calls Central Hatzalah, we actually call the appropriate resources for the patient, as well when someone calls in a fire RL we call FDNY not say it’s the family’s job to call.
Please make sense of your comments.
There should be a unified front from the entire Jewish community to get this animal convicted and sent to prison for many years. Yeshiva World News deserves a journalism prize for its excellent reporting on this hate crime.
What website do we use to follow this case? I can’t find it on WebCriminal now.