The NY Daily News reports: The mother of a black man believed to have been attacked by members of a Hasidic anti-crime patrol accused cops Friday of using a double-standard in handling two recent Crown Heights assaults.
As racial tensions heightened in the neighborhood, the mother of victim Andrew Charles noted that two black teens were quickly arrested for beating and robbing a 16-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy.
She said no arrests have been made for the April 14 attack on her son.
“One race is not better than another,” said Charles’ mom, Wendy Craigg. “My son was attacked and there was no arrest and no police presence.”
“I can’t even function. My child’s life was almost taken from him. Where are the police now?”
Charles, 20, the son of a city cop, was walking along Albany Ave. when a white man on a bicycle sprayed him with mace and then a second man hopped out of an SUV and smashed him in the back and arm with a nightstick.
Both attackers were wearing yarmulkes, police said.
Investigators believe the neighborhood Shmira patrol was responding to reports that black youths had thrown rocks at people’s homes and simply grabbed the first black teen they saw on the street.
Last week, the NYPD put out of a photograph of “a Jewish man”, calling the 25-year-old emergency medical technician a “person of interest” in the assault, which has been classified a bias crime. He hasn’t been found.
“Every day I attempt to function normally [but] it’s impossible because there is so much confusion as result of this incident,” Charles told dozens of demonstrators gathered Friday on Albany Ave.
On Thursday, cops arrested two black teens, Namor Clarke, 17, and Basean Parker, 14, for the May 14 assault on Alon Sherman, a 16-year-old Orthodox Jew.
Investigators believe the attackers’ motive was robbery and did not classify the attack as a bias crime.
The two assaults were not linked, police said.
The NYPD’s top spokesman vigorously denied the accusations that cops put a greater priority on solving the assault on the Orthodox teen.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
13 Responses
this is typical sharpton like behavair first you automaticly assume that the jews are gulity then you say the government is not looking for the jews{i guess hynes grand jury does not count} then when a jew gets attacked in a clear cut case and the cops for once do there job this charles guy mother has the chutzpah to complain bottom line her son was throwing rocks at jews the cursed the shmira guy’s then is affraid to show his brusies because he has none
Let me say a few stuff, First of all I live in Crown Heights & I was a victim of a very brutal Assault 1 year ago just 2 blocks away from 770 and the cops did nothing to find the African American attackers, the only people who care about our Community is the Crown Heights Shmira, Second, the cops never try to find the black attackers, it’s just that when we put so much pressure (which happens 1 out of 20 assaults) the cops actually do something, and Third, why is Andrew Charles complaining, he attacked Jewish Boys with rocks, Andrew Charles should be arrested for once & for all.
I will not defend anybody but there was a difference between the crimes; The jewish victim had a broken jaw and concussion. I am not aware of injuries to the other victim.
This does NOT condone wrongful violence but does explain a difference in police action.
Why is there a ”Shmira” group if there is already a Shomrim in C.H.?
[email protected]
Please E-mail the editor of this Daily News article and tell him the truth, [email protected]
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/05/24/2008-05-24_crown_heights_victims_mom_slams_cops.html
to #2 how do you know for sure that he attacked jewish boys with rocks dont just go blaming people if you dont even have a basis for your saying
This is the letter I just sent to the editor of the Daily News…thanks for the link.
The media has a mandate to tackle newsworthy incidents in a responsible manner. The Daily News, while following the “if it bleeds it leads” path is contributing in a very large measure to the unrest in his neighborhood by promoting such whiny rhetoric from a mother whose son’s complaint contributed to a witchhunt by the Brooklyn DA. You know it, but hey…it sells newspapers!
Jumping on the Hate Bandwagon diminishes the role of a popular voice in the media world. Inflammatory articles such as the one to which I refer only promotes more unrest, and while you live in your ivory tower in some tony neighborhood, my neighbors & I (Black & Hassidic) live in daily fear of attacks, robberies, & violence.
If you can’t contribute toward peace in Crown Heights, leave us alone. Instead of comparing two incidents with vastly differing outcomes (an unconscous, bloody youth in the gutter v. a very vociferous & able bodied complainant) try using your vast powers to demand change in the policing in the 71st Pct.
Mrs. Charles’s son nearly died?? I think you mixed up the mothers here. Or maybe not; your article was deliberate as the long holiday weekend needs some action, and there’s nothing like a little controversy to get readership, is there?
“One race is not better than another,” so says Mrs, Charles. Did she speak up after Alon Sherman was left for dead in the street just a few blocks from where her son was “attacked”? Yet you decide to keep this issue alive for the sole reason that it sells newspapers. Pulitzer-prize winning material it is not. Gutter press & yellow journalism is more like it.
Use your mandate responsibly.
to # 2 how do you know for sure that he attacked Jewish children with rocks you can’t just go blaming him if you don’t have basis of what to go on.
Because the Jewish Boys are witnesses to the fact that rocks were shot at them by Andrew Charles, and Thank God it missed them.
hml:
Kudos to you. You have some serious writing talent.
joseph: thank you! shomrim has shown that they are responsible. they are quick to apprehend suspects,but unlike Shmira they do not engage in actions that are a chillul hashem and a chillul lubavitch.
the blacks in CH are smarter than we give them credit for. If they want to beat up a Jew, they know that if they just take the Jew’s wallet, watch, etc. it will be classified as a robbery, not a “bias” crime.
Give Me a Break- Mrs. Craigg may have a point, but please. Her son is alive and well. If he can say who hurt him is one thing. It’s not as if they know who attacked him. If it’s really such a problem, why doesn’t the victim himself complain?