Five Hasidic men were arrested Wednesday for the December beating of a black gay man in Williamsburg, one of Brooklyn’s oldest Jewish neighborhoods. Police believe the man’s sexuality is what provoked the attack, and are now investigating the assault as a hate crime.
According to reports, 22-year-old fashion student Taj Patterson was walking along Flushing Ave. in Williamsburg after a night of partying last December when he was assaulted by a group of up to 20 ultra-Orthodox Hasidic men shouting antigay slurs.
Aharon Hollender, 28, Abraham Winkler, 39, Mayer Herskovic, 21, Pinchas Braver, 19, and Joseph Fried, 25, claimed to be part of a vigilante patrol group monitoring the area after a series of vandalizations occurred. There’s no evidence to support that Patterson had vandalized anything that night or previously, though a police report notes he was “highly intoxicated, uncooperative and incoherent.” Police suspect he was attacked simply for being gay and black.
The men, now all charged with gang assault, allegedly yelled things like “stay down, faggot, stay the fuck down” and cheered as the main instigator kicked Patterson’s face. According to reports, the unprovoked attack left Patterson with a broken eye socket, a torn retina, blood clotting, and cuts and bruises to his knee and ankles.
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Patterson remembers that his assailants “came up behind me, they grabbed me, they punched me in the face, kicked me down, knocked me out.” The assault was stopped by an MTA bus driver who intervened while on duty.
Gothamist reports that two of the suspects now in custody were plucked from Israel, where they fled following the attack, and that “more arrests are likely.” If convicted, each assailant could face up to 25 years in prison.
DarSco
WOW! white guys bashing a gay black guy? who would “ave thunk it lol.
These guys are just as guilty as ANY OTHER homophobes! lock their axxes up! as far as the description of Williamsburg, one of Brooklyn’s oldest Jewish neighborhoods, you can 5 blocks/streets in Brooklyn and you are in another neighborhood so it’s kinda tough to be a bigot in NYC unless you are an axxhole!
Mezaien
Dear HOMOS, brothers please take arms and be ready for the worst. It`s only starting with the F.U.C.K.I.N.G white asses Christian.
murphy0071
These are the same lame Jews who don’t want to fight for Israel and have shown themselves to be the cowards they are. Now they set upon African American Gay male using harassing epithets. This is just one more example of where evangelicals and ultra-orthodox are very similar.
You can bet the orthodox priests are upset this is outside the community. If it were an issue for them, each of the attackers would be promised more than 100 virgins upon entry into heaven and given a gold Star of David.
DickieJohnson
This is amazing…homophobic vigilante Hasidic gang, in New York!
coltonblack
How sad! These guys were nothing more than haters. Assholes. I hope they do serious time.