The ADL is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailant.
Edited by: JV Staff
A 63-year old Jewish man was viciously attacked Tuesday morning at Rochester Park in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York
Avraham Gopin, a Lubavitch resident of Crown Heights, was exercising in Lincoln Terrace Park near Eastern Parkway and Rochester Avenue at approximately 8:30 am and was attacked by a man who threw a rock at him, Chanina Sperlin of the CHJCC told COLlive.
The victim was walking in the park, when the man “began throwing bricks at him, and then attacked him,” Gopin’s son-in-law Rabbi Getzy Markowitz told COLlive. “He fought back, while being hit in the head with the brick.”
The victim was brutally beaten in the face and had several teeth knocked out, the report says.
Hatzalah emergency medical volunteers evacuated him to a hospital, where he is being treated for severe facial injuries.
“Thank G-d he fought back,” Markowitz said. “If he had not fought off the attacker, there would possibly have been, G-d forbid, a different outcome. The attacker was clearly trying to kill him – just an innocent man walking in the park.”
“He sustained a head injury which required 3 staples, a broken nose, as well as suffered a bruised leg and the loss of two teeth,” Markowitz said.
According to witnesses who had rushed to his aid, the assailant said nothing during the attack. The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident as a possible anti-Semitic incident.
The perpetrator managed to escape the scene.
COLIive reported that the NYPD Hate Crimes division is on the scene and conducting an investigation. Police are also investigating whether this is connected to another incident which occurred yesterday in the area, Inspector John Buttacavoli, Commanding Officer of the NYPD’s 77th Precinct said.
In response to the incident, the NYPD will increase patrols in the area, particularly in the park, Buttacavoli said.
“My father in law is a visibly Chasidic Jew,” Rabbi Markowitz told COLlive. “He is a known person in the community, and well liked by all. He gets along with all his neighbors – both Jews and non-Jews – who are all very fond of him.
“This senseless act of violence is extremely troubling,” Markowitz said.
“I’m disgusted by the vicious attack on Avraham Gopin this morning in Crown Heights’ Lincoln Terrace Park,” Boro President Eric Adams tweeted about the attack. “No one should be attacked, hate-fueled or not. Violence is violence, wrong is wrong.”
The ADL announced that it is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the assault.
“We are alarmed and deeply concerned by this violent assault on an elderly Jewish man,” said Evan R. Bernstein, ADL NY/NJ Regional Director. “The sheer brutally of this attack is beyond shocking and profoundly upsetting.
“At a time when violent assaults against Jews increased by 55% last year, we must not become complacent,” he added. “All New Yorkers should be outraged by these incidents and come together to end this disturbing trend once and for all. We are grateful for the NYPD Hate Crime Unit for investigating.”
(World Israel News)
