Yeshiva student assaulted in Crown Heights

For the third time in three weeks, a person affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement was assaulted in Crown Heights, a local paper reported.

The victim, a 22-year-old yeshiva student, was reportedly walking home from the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights when he was attacked at around midnight on Tuesday night.

It was not immediately clear what the motive for the attack was, but the victim’s father said the assailants did not try to rob him.

The Crown Heights Info news website reported that the victim felt he was being followed and crossed the street, only to discover someone coming at him from the other direction as well.

The two African-American assailants punched and kicked the yeshiva student until he managed to break free and run, catching the attention of police officers. One officer took one of the assailants into custody immediately, and another officer chased after the second assailant, catching him two blocks away. Both assailants were armed with knives, according to the report. Both assailants had prior arrests.

The victim, who had fled, called Crown Heights Shomrim, which liaised between the victim and police.

The father of the victim told CrownHeights.info “they didn’t demand anything from him, all they wanted was to hurt him, to take his life.”

On April 21, a 52-year-old father of two was beaten and choked while walking home in the afternoon from Shabbat services in Crown Heights. An arrest has been made in that attack.

Late on April 14, a ultra-Orthodox man was assaulted outside of the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters.