Police Arrest Man After Anti-Semitic Crown Heights Attack

CROWN HEIGHTS, NY — Police arrested a man who shouted anti-Semitic slurs before punching and choking a Jewish man last week, authorities said.

James Vincent, 40, was arrested on Friday. Police charged him with assault, strangulation and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Vincent is suspected in the Saturday afternoon attack of a 52-year-old Jewish man in Crown Heights. Police say that Vincent began yelling anti-Semitic comments at the man near the intersection of East 46th Street and Rutland Road, before attacking the man and punching him repeatedly in the face and choking him with his hands around his neck.

Passersby intervened and freed the choking man and Vincent ran from the area, police said. The attack happened at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The victim was treated for bruising to his face and neck at a nearby hospital.

Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone tweeted a photo of the man who was attacked with a blackened eye.

Numerous politicians expressed concern in the wake of the attack, the second anti-Semitic attack in the neighborhood within an eight-day time period.

"I am disgusted and saddened by the vicious attack that occurred on Saturday in Crown Heights, which is being investigated as a potential hate crime," City Council speaker Corey Johnson said in a statement on Monday. "The victim was Jewish and reportedly subjected to anti-Semitic slurs. Unfortunately, Saturday’s attack follows another unprovoked incident of violence...also in Brooklyn and also towards a Jewish man. This is not what our city is about, and my heart breaks that New Yorkers have endured this kind of abuse and violence. Hate has no place here, and I pray those responsible are quickly brought to justice."

On April 14, a Jewish man was punched in the face outside the Chabad movement headquarters, Bklyner reported.

Patch was not immediately able to locate a defense attorney for Vincent, a Bronx resident, on Friday afternoon.

Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPD