Man Stones Jewish Father Exercising In Crown Heights Park: Cops

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn father was attacked with rocks in a Crown Heights park Tuesday morning in a possible anti-Semitic hate crime, according to police.

The 63-year-old man was exercising in Lincoln Terrace Park on Buffalo Avenue and Eastern Parkway about 7:40 a.m. when a man suddenly threw a rock at him, police said.

The 63-year-old, who was wearing a yarmulke, walked up to his attacker who threw yet another rock, cutting his forehead, then punched him in the face, according to police.

The man who threw the rock — whom police describe as a 6-foot-tall man sporting dreadlocks — ran from the park and the 63-year-old called 911, said police.

City Councilman Chaim Deutsch shared a photo of the large stone that Chassidic performer Benny Friedman said was thrown at his father.

Friedman said his father suffered a broken nose, missing teeth, stitches on his head and lacerations on his body.

"Thank Gd, all things considered, my father in law is doing ok," Friedman tweeted. "Where I come from in Minnesota, this would be front page headlines. But here in Brooklyn this is just the latest event."

Police are investigating the assault as a possible hate crime and the Anti-Defamation League is offering a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to the man's arrest.

“We are alarmed and deeply concerned by this violent assault on an elderly Jewish man,” said ADL Regional Director Evan Bernstein. “The sheer brutally of this attack is beyond shocking and profoundly upsetting."

Patch reached out to Friedman by email but did not immediately receive a response.