Suspect in New York Chabad headquarters ramming hit with federal charges

NEW YORK — The man accused of ramming a vehicle into the Chabad Hasidic movement’s New York headquarters was charged by US federal authorities on Monday, stepping up the prosecution of the case.

Dan Sohail, 36, was charged with intentionally damaging religious property in the federal Eastern District of New York court.

Sohail had been previously charged with hate crimes in the Kings County criminal court in Brooklyn. Federal prosecutors sometimes pick up more serious cases.

An FBI agent wrote in a criminal complaint unsealed on Monday that Sohail drove to Chabad’s headquarters on January 28, parked near the building, moved stanchions that were protecting a side entrance, and told congregants to move away.

Sohail, a New Jersey resident, got back in his Honda Accord and smashed into the building’s entrance five times, knocking an entrance door off its hinges, the complaint said. No one was injured.

Sohail was arrested at the scene. During an interview with law enforcement, he said he had previously visited the building, and that “he had recently learned he had Jewish heritage and was in the process of learning more about the Jewish tradition,” the complaint said.

Sohail claimed he had been invited to an event at the building that night and had “lost control of the car because of icy conditions and because he was wearing heavy boots.”

After his arrest, New York police said Sohail had previous contacts with Chabad, attending a “social gathering” at the same location around 10 days before the incident.

Video circulated on social media showed a man resembling the suspect dancing in a circle inside the synagogue.

The building at 770 Eastern Parkway, known as “770,” is likely the most famous and recognizable Jewish site in New York City. The structure is iconic for the Chabad movement and there are replicas of the building in other countries, including in Kfar Chabad in Israel.

The ramming took place during an annual celebration marking the 75th anniversary of the late Chabad rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, taking on the leadership of the movement.

The incident provoked widespread shock and alarm in the Jewish community and from elected leaders in the city, where Jews are targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined.

NYPD data released on Monday showed that Jews were targeted in 21 hate crimes in New York last month, representing 55 percent of the 38 bias incidents in the city.

There was one attack against Asians, four targeting Black people, one Islamophobic incident, four against other religious groups, and six based on sexual orientation.

The total for February marked a decrease from the 31 antisemitic incidents reported to police in January and the 40 incidents targeting Jews in December.

The rate of antisemitic incidents regularly fluctuates due to factors including protest activity and the weather.

The numbers are preliminary and subject to change after investigation if, for example, an incident that appeared to be driven by hatred turns out to have had other motivations. Hate crime convictions are relatively rare.

Hate crimes are subject to steeper penalties than non-bias incidents because hate crimes are seen as targeting an entire group.

Jewish security officials and hate crimes experts have said many incidents are likely not reported to police.

Also Monday, James Carlson, a protester who joined the takeover of a campus building at Columbia University in 2024, pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and trespassing, both misdemeanors. A felony charge against him was dropped.

Carlson, who was 40 at the time of his arrest in 2024 and was not affiliated with the university, was one of dozens of demonstrators arrested for forcibly occupying the campus’s Hamilton Hall.

He was also accused of burning a student’s Israeli flag and smashing a glass panel in a holding cell after he was arrested.

Carlson, an attorney from a wealthy background, is expected to serve one year of probation, do community service, and pay $25 restitution to the student whose flag he burned.