Suspect in Chabad headquarters ramming charged with hate crimes

The suspect who allegedly rammed a vehicle into Chabad’s world headquarters in New York City last night is charged with hate crimes.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny says at a briefing that the suspect is Dan Sohail, 36, from Carteret, New Jersey.

Carteret allegedly smashed his Honda Accord into an entrance of the synagogue five times.

He is charged with attempted assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, and aggravated harassment. All the charges are being filed as hate crimes.

Sohail had previous contacts with Chabad, attending a “social gathering” at the same location around 10 days ago, Kenny says.

“We believe that he was in Brooklyn last night to continue his attempt to connect with the Lubavitch Jewish community,” he says.

Security camera footage showed the suspect parking a few blocks away from the scene of the incident, walking to the synagogue entrance, removing bollards from the sidewalk, and returning to his car. He drove to the synagogue, exited his car again, removed snow from the driveway, then smashed into the entrance, Kenny says.

Sohail said at the scene that “his foot slipped” and, in an interrogation, said he lost control of his vehicle because he was “wearing clunky boots,” Kenny says.

The incidents are being treated as hate crimes because “he attacked a Jewish institution,” Kenny says.

“This is a synagogue. It’s clearly marked as a synagogue, he knew it was a synagogue because he attended there previously,” he says.

There are no known threats to houses of worship, but police have increased protection of religious sites around the city out of caution.