Prospect Park Stabbing Suspect Also Accused of Crown Heights 'Hate Crime'

Wanted ads for the Crown Heights attacker have been posted around Brooklyn for weeks. Photo by Simone Wilson

DITMAS PARK, BROOKLYN — The long and frustrating community hunt for a man who stabbed a Hasidic Jew in Crown Heights on Feb. 10 finally made some headway last week, when the suspect in two recent Prospect Park stabbings reportedly confessed to the infamous Crown Heights "hate crime."

Keny Rochelin, 26, was taken into custody just before midnight on March 9 at 184 Parkside Ave., on the border of Ditmas Park and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, police said.

Rochelin attacked two people in or near Prospect Park that night, police said.

First, he slashed the hand of a 35-year-old man at 11:15 p.m., a law enforcement source told Patch.

Around 15 minutes later, Rochelin snatched the wallet of a 42-year-old man and stabbed him in the stomach with a large knife, according to the NYPD.

Our source said Monday that both victims later identified Rochelin as their attacker.

Then, during police interrogation, Rochelin confessed to stabbing 25-year-old Yehuda Leib Brikman on Feb. 10 in Crown Heights, our source said.

The source confirmed Monday that the NYPD had investigated the attack as a hate crime, but said there is now "no indication the [Feb. 10] attack it was motivated by bias." The DA's office will not be pursuing any hate-crime charges, the source said.

Brikman's stabbing had a deep psychological impact on Brooklyn's Jewish community.

The Anti-Defamation League sent the following statement to various Jewish news outlets following Rochelin's arrest.

“We saw firsthand how this horrific crime shook the Crown Heights Jewish community to its core. We commend NYPD for diligently pursuing the party responsible for last month’s terrible stabbing. ... The suspect must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and we hope a resolution in this case brings peace of mind to all of Rochelin’s victims."

And City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, who represents Crown Heights, wrote on Facebook:

"I want to thank the NYPD for the apprehension of 26-year-old Keny Rochelin, the alleged suspect in three stabbings, including one in Crown Heights last month. Our community is safer with the removal of this individual from our streets."

Local police, politicians and community members have been actively searching for Brikman's attacker for weeks. The NYPD posted flyers with surveillance photos of their suspect on telephone poles and shop windows throughout central Brooklyn, calling the Crown Heights stabbing "a bias assault/hate crime," and offered a $12,500 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Rochelin has been charged with all three attacks, a law-enforcement source told Patch.

However, our source said, Rochelin was transferred to a hospital last Thursday for psychological evaluation — a process which is delaying his first appearance in court.

The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office confirmed Monday that Rochelin has yet to be arraigned.

Rochelin reportedly lives at a homeless shelter on 83rd Street in Manhattan. (The NYPD has his address listed as 200 W. 83rd St.)

Patch has not independently confirmed the NYPD's account of the three assaults mentioned in this story.

News of Rochelin's arrest comes 10 days after Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams offered $1,000 of his own money for information leading to the arrest of a mugger who attacked and robbed two elderly women in Park Slope. At that time, NYPD officials said no crimes had taken place in Prospect Park so far this year.

Rochelin was arrested in the 70th police precinct, which includes Ditmas Park and Flatbush. According to NYPD statistics, overall crime in the 70th so far this year is down about 3 percent compared to the same period last year.

Prospect Park itself, however, is covered by the 78th police precinct. According to police statistics, overall crime is down in the 78th by nearly 25 percent so far this year compared to the same period last year.