Second Suspect Arrested for Hate Crime in Williamsburg

By Hamodia Staff

WILLIAMSBURG, Brooklyn — After a string of hate crimes were perpetrated against Jewish victims in Williamsburg last week, Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell announced the arrest of the second suspect on Monday afternoon.

On Sunday, August 21, two elderly Chassidish men, one seventy-two years old and one sixty-four years old, were assaulted and sprayed with a fire extinguisher. On Monday, August 22, a twenty-seven-year-old Chassidish man was struck in the face by a stranger. Baruch Hashem the victims are recovering from the assaults.

On Thursday, August 25, Carrington Maddox, 31, was arrested for the Monday assault and was hit with nine harassment and assault related charges, three of which are designated as hate crimes, according to the District Attorney’s office. According to the NYPD, Maddox has a criminal history in Florida and Nevada, but not in New York; he is currently homeless.

Another suspect was arrested Monday and charged with the two August 21 assaults. The suspect is a 14 year old whose case is being handled in family court.

Commissioner Sewell said that “No one deserves to be the victim of such senseless, hateful violence,” and that “the NYPD works hard everyday and will never tolerate hate or violence in New York City” She also said that arrests by the Hate Crimes tasks force are up by over 100 percent this year, and arrests made for crimes targeting Jews are up 45 percent.

Rabbi Moshe Indig and Rabbi Shmiel Stern, two prominent community leaders in Williamsburg spoke at the event. Rabbi Indig said that the NYPD, who he describes as “the best of the best,” is doing its job very well, and that the amount of hate crimes is due to “holes” in the current criminal justice system. “Bail reform needs to be corrected,” Rabbi Indig said.

Rabbi Stern echoed the same concerns. “Kids will be afraid of going to school,” he cautioned. “Justice needs to return to the streets; we need justice!…not a revolving-door.”

When asked by a Hamodia reporter to comment on the statements of Rabbi Indig and Rabbi Stern, the commissioner said “I think what we continue to see everyday across the city are recidivists. We see the same people that we are arresting being let back out to inflict more harm. I agree that we need to take a hard look at our system…We need to be able hold people accountable, because it’s really about getting justice for the victims.

When asked if she would join Mayor Adams’ request to Governor Hochul to organize a special session of the state legislature to address bail reform, Sewell stopped short of endorsing it. “I can tell you what would help the police department; having all the levers of justice pulling in the same direction,” she said.