Nearly three months after an Orthodox Jewish couple were assaulted on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force has made an arrest in the case, law enforcement sources told JP on Monday.
The Orthodox man and woman, both in their 20′s, were walking on East 63rd Street between Lexington Avenue & Second Avenue around 8:00 PM on August 25tth, 2014, when a caravan of vehicles and one motorcycle bedecked with Palestinian flags, pulled up in front of them.
The occupants yelled multiple anti-Jewish statements at them and threw a bottle of water at the woman. While her husband was trying to protect his wife, he was punched in the head by a man from the assaulting group, investigators said.
After receiving a call from the couple, police officers responded to the location and then handed over the investigation to the Hate Crimes Task Force.
After a nearly three-month probe, the police arrested 23-year-old Mustafa Mashni from Brooklyn. While being interviewed by the Hate Crimes Task Force, Mr. Mashni told detectives that he was riding a motorcycle as part of the caravan of vehicles with Palestinian flags that was driving around Manhattan, and when they passed East 63rd Street his fellow riders got into a confrontation with the Jewish male. Mashni claimed that he wanted to stop the confrontation and approached the Jewish male, but accidentally hit him in in the face.
Mr. Mashni – who has three prior arrests with NYPD – was now charged with assault. After being arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, the judge released him on his own recognizance until his next court date.
City Council Member Mark Levine told JP, “The Hate Crimes Task Force deserves enormous credit for making an arrest in what was a complicated case. At a time of a rising number of anti-Semitic attacks, this sends the message that our city will not tolerate acts of hate directed at any group or individual.”
Reached for comment, Council Member Dan Garodnick said, “‘I am pleased that the NYPD stayed focused on this case to ensure that justice was done.”