Saturday, November 23, 2013

PUNCHER (UPDATE: NOT) CHARGED WITH HATE CRIME

UPDATE, 11/24/13: On Friday, the NYPD announced the charges listed below; on Saturday, the prosecutor said the charges are assault, harassment, and menacing.
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The 66th Precinct has charged twenty-eight-year-old Amrit Marajh of Kensington with aggravated harassment in the second degree as a hate crime, third-degree assault, and third-degree assault as a hate crime.  He allegedly punched Shmuel Perl, a twenty-four-year-old Jewish man, in his head Friday morning in an attempt to knock him unconscious. Perl was wearing a yarmulke.


Marajh was one of four men in their twenties and thirties who surrounded Perl on his way home from work at 2:45 a.m. on 18th Avenue and Seton Place, not far from E. 2nd Street. After the punch was thrown, Perl remained conscious. He scrambled to his feet and fled. He called Borough Park Shomrim Patrol and told them what had happened. They, in turn, notified the NYPD.

The other three men didn't have any charges brought against them.

The Guardian Angels have begun patrolling Crown Heights and Midwood in hopes of deterring those who have violence on their minds. 

"Dee Voch" magazine interviewed Mr. Perl just two hours after the attack. The interview is on YouTube.