NEW YORK, N.Y. — A driver intentionally jumped a curb and tried to run people down outside an Orthodox Jewish school in New York City on Wednesday, authorities said.
Police say Asghar Ali, 58, was driving a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria when he slammed the brakes, turned it around, and barreled toward pedestrians on the sidewalk outside Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School, NBC News reports. Security video shows at least two men running away from the oncoming vehicle.
Witnesses said during the attack, Ali yelled, “I’m going to kill all the Jews.” He attempted to drive away from the scene but was tracked down by the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol, a volunteer community protection group. Ali was taken into custody by police and is facing more than a dozen charges, including second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime.
Ali, a Pakistani immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades, has a history of mental illness with four prior arrests, police sources told Fox. Investigators do not believe the attack is terror-related or tied to radical groups.
NYPD Officials Speak to Attempted Ramming
Chaim Moskowitz, a 17-year-old student at the school, told NBC that even before the incident, he kept an eye out for anything unusual around his school and neighborhood.
“You do think about this,” he said. “I’m scared every time I walk.”
City Council member Farah Louis called the incident a “senseless act of bigotry and violence.”
“No group or community should live in fear of violence, discrimination, or intimidation, and we must address the rising trend of anti-Semitism to prevent such hateful acts in the future,” she wrote in a statement.
According to data from NYPD, hate crimes in the city are up more than 11.4%. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said anti-Semitic crimes are up 55% compared to the same time last year.
“This is a ramming incident. The federal government needs to rise to the occasion,” declared Davorah Haberstam, who is on NYPD’s hate crime review panel. “We need to use this case as a precedent to say, ‘Not in this country. Not in New York City.'”
