Yeshiva student assaulted in Crown Heights

For the third time in three weeks, a person affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement has been assaulted in Crown Heights.

The victim, a 22-year-old yeshiva student, had been walking home from the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights when he was attacked at around midnight on Tuesday night.

The Crown Heights Info news website reports that the victim felt as if he was being followed and crossed the street, only to discover someone coming at him from the other direction as well.

The two African-American assailants punched and kicked the yeshiva student until he managed to break free and run, catching the attention of police officers. One officer took one of the assailants into custody immediately, and another officer chased after the second assailant, catching him two blocks away. Both assailants were armed with knives, according to the report. Both assailants had prior arrests.

The victim, who had fled, called Crown Heights Shomrim, a Jewish volunteer patrol group, who put the victim in touch with police and offered Hebrew translation services until police translators were available.

The father of the victim tells CrownHeights.info “they didn’t demand anything from him, all they wanted was to hurt him, to take his life,” and added “my son was lucky [that a police officer] who understood Hebrew just happened to be passing by that intersection and saw my son running for his life.”

On April 21, a 52-year-old father of two was beaten and choked while walking home in the afternoon from Shabbat services in Crown Heights. An arrest has been made in that attack.

— JTA