In a disturbing incident on Wednesday, a driver attempted to run down a group of Jewish students and a rabbi outside a Jewish School in Brooklyn.
Witnesses on the scene alleged that as the driver chased them down, he yelled, “I’m going to kill all the Jews.”
Surveillance footage obtained by Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol shows the driver driving a 2011 white Crown Victoria through the Brooklyn neighborhood before jumping curbs to run down the students.
Unhinged driver attempts to mow down Jewish men outside a yeshiva https://t.co/PXtqwEuHa0 pic.twitter.com/2rDsek6Udr
— New York Post (@nypost) May 29, 2024
He then drove around the block and back toward the school – this time targeting two more students standing outside and a rabbi.
The victims managed to run into the building before the suspect could run them over. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Although the driver attempted to flee the scene, Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol members tracked him down. He was later taken into custody by the NYPD.
“We were able to retrieve the video footage. We got the guy’s plate number. Obviously, it was a distinct car, a Crown Vic, an old model. You don’t see too many of those around,” Bob Moskovitz, executive coordinator of the patrol, said in a statement. “We were told by the people at the school that he hangs around and drives around the neighborhood. And one of our members, when he was doing his daily patrol canvassing around the neighborhood, saw the car.”
Police later identified the alleged attacker as Asghar Ali, 58, a Pakistani immigrant livery cab driver with a history of mental illness. Ali has been charged with more than a dozen crimes, including attempted murder, attempted assault and reckless driving to carry out a hate crime.
NYPD officers also identified five of the victims who Ali targeted. They include three 18-year-old men, a 41-year-old man, and a 44-year-old man.
According to the New York Post, Ali has been in trouble with the law four times before this incident. He was arrested in 1998 for false personation after he flashed a false ID when he was stopped.