Assailant in Unprovoked Boro Park Attack Convicted

By Hamodia Staff

NEW YORK — Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 41-year-old Farrukh Afzal of Staten Island man has been convicted of charges of felony attempted assault, misdemeanor assault and menacing for a 2018 unprovoked attack against three Jewish men that took place on October 14, 2018 in Borough Park.

The defendant was driving a cab on 13th Avenue and 44th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. As he drove past a Hasidic man, he allegedly swerved his car as if to hit him, causing the man to run away so he wouldn’t get struck.

Video surveillance footage showed that Afzal drove for another block and a half and stopped, exited his cab and ran towards another Lipa Schwartz, who was standing at the corner of 13th Avenue and 46th Street holding his tallis bag. The driver assaulted him, beating him for approximately twenty-five seconds, causing lacerations and bruising to the face and body. Schwartz was treated at a local hospital.

A third Hasidic man tried to intervene and was chased by the defendant, but escaped onto a city bus and avoid being assaulted.

The suspect was arrested and arraigned on November 15, 2018.

Afzal was convicted on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, of second-degree attempted assault, third-degree assault and third-degree menacing following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Laporte. He was acquitted of hate crime enhancements that were attached to each of those three counts. He faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced on September 15, 2022.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant’s violent conduct has no place in Brooklyn, where we value diversity and welcome all religions. He has now been held accountable and today’s verdict should send a strong message to anyone who would commit this kind of outrageous and unprovoked attack.”