By VIN News
The victim of a brutal beating, in an interview with VIN news, said that he feared for his life and that his attacker was screaming in Arabic as he pummeled him mercilessly in the middle of a Borough Park street.
37 year old Farrukh Afzal was arrested this morning by the NYPD and charged with assault as a hate crime, criminal mischief and harassment in the attack on Lipa Schwartz.
Lipa Schwartz was walking to the synagogue just after 7:15 Sunday morning when the sounds of a car screeching down the avenue between 45th and 46th streets had him stopping in his tracks.
Surveillance video shows the car service driver running out of a black four door sedan directly at Schwartz, hitting him in the head multiple times.
Attempting to flee his attacker, Schwartz ran into 46th Street intersection where the car service driver continued to beat him, punching him in the head numerous times, throwing him onto the pavement and striking him repeatedly.
A second Chasidic man who attempted to intervene was chased through the street by the car service driver before he was tackled by passersby and held by Shomrim until police arrived at the scene.
Schwartz was treated and released by Maimonides Medical Center for his injuries. He was unavailable for comment this morning but told one visitor “if he had a knife I would be dead by now.”
The attacker was arrested by the NYPD and is an employee of Church Avenue Car Service.
A manager at Church Avenue Car Service said that the company was cooperating with the NYPD and that no further information was available at this time.
The incident has sent shock waves of fear rippling through Borough Park.
Community Board 12 chairman Yidel Perlstein said that the NYPD is taking the incident very seriously, sending several high level officials to the hospital and canvassing the area for additional surveillance footage in order to aid in their investigation.
“We haven’t seen anything like this in a very long time,” said Perlstein. “Everybody in the community is traumatized. We don’t want anyone to ever go through anything like this and want to make sure that this is an isolated incident.”
Local elected officials expressed their outrage on the matter.
“It is unbelievable that someone walking in the early morning should have to worry about almost being beaten to death,” Senator Simcha Felder told VIN News. “I am asking the police department and calling on District Attorney Eric Gonzalez to investigate this matter very seriously.”
Assemblyman Dov Hikind described the attack as inexcusable. Hikind said that he has been in close contact with Deputy Inspector David Wall, commanding officer of the 66th Precinct regarding the brutal beating.
“To see this animal physically attacking someone is just horrible,” Hikind told VIN News. “Thank G-d this guy is off the streets after this malicious and vicious attack. This isn’t the wild west; this is Borough Park. We can’t have things like this taking place on our streets.”
Contrary to media reports alleging that the two men had had words prior to the incident, Schwartz said that he had never had any prior interactions with Afzal who cursed at him continuously in Arabic during the beating that left the 62 year old Chasidic man with lacerations to his ear and tongue and shattered eyeglasses.
Schwartz recalled how he begged a passerby to help him and considers himself lucky to be alive, noting that if his attacker had had a knife “definitely he would have stabbed me. No question.”
Video: Victim speaks
The democRATS are too busy knocking Trump. They don’t care about us. I’m voting republican.
Did any other NY (or US) politicians or activists decry this event and say it is not to be tolerated and punished to the extent of the law. I see mention here only of two orthodox jewish politicians being quoted.
While I’m not trying to judge the victim, they did appear to be aware enough to start running away in this case. The problem is they were defenseless, as were the bystanders.
It was 730 am and all the stores were still closed and not too many people on the street. Had it been a half hour later the creep would of gotten demolished.
Have a friend jump on you from behind & hold you down
Someone 1/2 your age with agility & strength…. Silly suggestions.
The real question is WHY is he stillfree with his track record???
I agree. It’s important to not be a victim, and not let people see us as possible victims. Learn to defend yourself if possible and learn your local laws so that you can reaponsibly choose the different means available for personal, family and community protection that you can use.
Don’t be a victim, don’t live in fear.
Judging by the guy’s name, I bet it was Urdu – not Arabic.
attention Boro Park friends of the man that was brutally attacked. You can not stand idly by while a yid is beaten up. G-d will not help you, G-d helps those who help themselves. Teach your children bravery and learn how to dial 911. Learn self-defense and yes hire armed guards for your synagogues and Jewish schools. We are living in a pre-Nazi environment where one Rabbi in your community was murdered and others have been physically harmed. I have relatives in BORO PARK, please heed my call. RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
Jews, pray and get guns
Can’t understand why he had to beg people to help him.
It looks Germany 1939. The smart people the media look aside when it happens in Israel, but now this is happening on our shores. Yemach shemom.
Put more camera around so these Chayos get caught. A MISAH MESHUNA
expecting the usual JCRC and ADL to condemn this and then go back to their Trump bashing from the rich upper east side.
wow I have used that car service every time I am in Boro Park w/o a car. most Jews use that car service as they are the most reasonable. It does not behoove them not to cooperate with the cops. they would go out of business. I am amazed they weren’t more careful with whom they hired. Poor guy hope he recovers well and hope that the perp goes away for a long long time.
I read that this guy had eight previous arrests. With our sick liberal democratic judges and court system he is probably back on the streets. He could of killed a lot of people had he used his car like other terrorists did including the one recently in manhattan who also was a car service driver. Every community should have cameras put up to capture crime scenes.