A man faces hate crime charges after allegedly ramming his car into a Brooklyn Jewish centre, with no injuries reported.
NEW YORK: A man who allegedly crashed his car into an Orthodox Jewish centre in New York will face hate crime charges, officials said.
Footage shared online shows a gray Honda sedan ramming into the door of the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn, before reversing and plowing into it again.
No one was injured in the incident.
Dan Sohail, a 36-year-old from New Jersey, faces charges of attempted assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, and aggravated harassment.
All four charges are being filed as hate crimes, Joseph Kenny, the New York chief of detectives, told reporters.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the incident was “deeply alarming.”
“Any threat to a Jewish institution or place of worship must be taken seriously. Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable,” he wrote on X.
Sohail had previously gone to the Chabad Lubavitch building, police said.
Video on social media appears to show him dancing there with Orthodox Jewish men.
Several news outlets reported that the suspect, whose father is Muslim and mother is Catholic, had visited several synagogues in recent months asking for spiritual guidance and how to convert.
Earlier on Wednesday, he went to two other Jewish community locations in New Jersey.
His agitated behavior worried some officials, who called the police, according to US media.
