Man arrested for assaulting 2 Jewish men in Crown Heights

The suspect reportedly swore at the men, sprayed one with pepper-spray and hit the other with a stick.

By ILANIT CHERNICK
Man arrested for assaulting 2 Jewish men in Crown Heights
A man who assaulted two Jewish men in Crown Heights, New York, on Friday evening is facing charges for hate crime.
According to the New York Police Department, just after 7 p.m. on Friday night, a 39-year-old man identified as Kenya Dean started arguing with a Jewish man on Carroll Street in Crown Heights.
Dean made several antisemitic remarks, broke a glass bottle and later pepper-sprayed the 27-year-old Jewish man in the face.
Police also confirmed that Dean then hit a 62-year-old man at the scene with a stick, lightly injuring him.
Dean was arrested and has since been charged with harassment and hate-crime assault.
The neighborhood's community website, CrownHeights.info, reported that both victims were Jewish. They were standing on Carroll Street when Dean reportedly walked past the two and said: “You f****** Jews! Hitler should have finished you off!”
The two men then responded to his antisemitic comments. As the argument spiraled out of control, Dean maced the younger man.
The older man tried to stop Dean, but was hit in the head with a stick by the perpetrator.
Dean reportedly tried to flee the scene, but was apprehended and arrested by police.
Extra police have been deployed around the Crown Heights area since the incident.
The Crown Heights neighborhood watch group Shomrim also confirmed the incident, thanking the NYPD for their “great response and collaboration.”
Following the incident, the Anti-Defamation League NY/NJ also “expressed deep appreciation to NYPD for swiftly apprehending a suspect in connection with an alleged assault of two Jewish men.”
The branch's regional director Evan R. Bernstein said he was “deeply disturbed” by this incident.
“The severity of this incident, which involved hurling antisemitic insults and subsequently attacking worshipers with pepper spray and a stick as they were getting ready for Shabbat, is deeply shocking,” he said in a statement. “We are grateful for the swift action by NYPD in apprehending the individual allegedly responsible for this attack.
“This assault underscores the urgent need for communities in Brooklyn to come together and stop these profoundly troubling hate incidents from happening in our city,” Bernstein added.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a Jewish woman who was walking with her sister and baby was accosted by a man, who blocked their path and said he didn’t want “white people or Jews on his block.”
CrownHeights.info said the incident happened at around 2 p.m. on Thursday.
Another man tried to intervene to give the woman and her sister time to leave the scene. They crossed the street, but the perpetrator began to follow them. The woman called her husband and Crown Heights Shomrim.
When they arrived, he reportedly pretended to be armed by sticking his hand into his waistband.
Police arrested the man for harassment and stalking.