Suspect in New York Jewish center car ramming faces hate crime charges

New York, New York - A man who allegedly crashed his car into an Orthodox Jewish center in New York will face hate crime charges, officials said Thursday.

The suspect in the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters car-ramming will face hate-crime charges.
The suspect in the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters car-ramming will face hate-crime charges.  © SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Footage shared online shows a gray Honda sedan ramming into the door of the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn late Wednesday, before reversing and plowing into it again.

No one was injured in the incident.

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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, and 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 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.

Cover photo: SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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