Baltimore, MD – Member of Shomrim Patrol Accused of Striking Teen

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    Photo illustration of Baltimore ShomrimBaltimore, MD – Members of Shomrim, an Orthodox Jewish citizen patrol group, take their volunteer job seriously: with matching jackets and radios, they have a phone hotline that is staffed round-the-clock so they can respond to emergencies in their Northwest Baltimore community.

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    But one member may have recently gone too far. On Tuesday, he was arrested by city police after allegedly striking a black teenager and telling him, “You don’t belong around here.”

    Police arrested 23-year-old Eliezer Eliyahu Werdesheim, a former Israeli Special Forces soldier, and charged him with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and false imprisonment in a Nov. 19 incident in the 3300 block of Fallstaff Road. According to court records, the teen’s wrist was broken in the scuffle and he suffered cuts to the back of his head.

    “Shomrim has and continues to be a good partner in making the northwest community safer,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “However, this individual took the law into his own hands, and the Baltimore Police Department will not tolerate acts of vigilantism from any organization.”

    Andrew Alperstein, Werdesheim’s attorney, said his client was observing who he believed to be a criminal suspect, when he was confronted by the boy, who Alperstein said picked up a stick and attacked him.

    “Mr. Werdesheim defended himself, and won that fight,” Alperstein said, calling it “nothing more than self-defense situation.”

    Nathan Willner, an attorney and Shomrim member, said the organization had suspended Werdesheim pending an internal investigation. While he said the group did not condone inappropriate behavior, he was confident that Werdesheim would be vindicated in the court system.

    Court records show that a 15-year-old was walking at 12:45 p.m. when a vehicle with two males inside approached and began driving next to him. The victim told police that they followed him for a short distance before jumping out of the vehicle and surrounding him.

    He said the passenger of the vehicle grabbed him and threw him to the ground, then the driver — who police believe was Werdesheim — struck the teen in the head with his radio and asked if he “had anything on him.”

    According to the victim, Werdesheim yelled, “You wanna [expletive] with us, you don’t belong here, get outta here!”

    A third man exited a white van and struck the victim in the back with his knee, then held him to the ground as the other men patted him down, he told police. He said the men fled the area, and he called police.

    The teen could not be reached for comment. Police said the teen was not under investigation in this incident, though a source said he has a juvenile arrest record that includes theft charges. Juvenile criminal records are not publicly available.

    Guglielmi said the other two men were not under investigation, saying Werdesheim was the suspect who struck the boy in the head. Willner said he was not aware of whether other Shomrim members were involved and said no other members were suspended.

    Shomrim, which is Hebrew for “watchers,” was started in late 2005 after a rash of burglaries in the city’s Orthodox community around Upper Park Heights and Greenspring. Several men decided to start patrolling the streets in the early morning hours.

    Those efforts would morph into a tightly coordinated operation that screens and trains new members and is often on the scene before police. Splitting the area up into quadrants, they have led search efforts for missing people, thwarted bicycle thefts and intervened in suicide attempts.

    While most of Shomrim’s members are local shopkeepers and businessmen, Werdesheim came with a security background: in addition to his Israeli military background, he is CEO of a security company that serves diplomats and executives when they travel abroad, according to his website and an August profile in the Washington Post. He worked for an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, where he specialized in urban counterterrorism, hostage rescue and high-profile apprehensions.

    “This young man has no [criminal] record, and is well thought of in the community,” said Alperstein, his attorney. “His role in doing this was really of giving back and community service … Hopefully the community will stand behind him as he continues to preserve his good name.”

    Police have worked closely with the group, using them as a resource but also advising them on how to keep themselves safe and not to engage suspects in potentially dangerous situations.

    It is just one of the many Northwest Baltimore volunteer groups trying to pitch in. The Northwest Citizens Patrol counts hundreds of members and organizes patrols each night, and there is also an all-volunteer ambulance service and a roadside assistance service that changes flat tires, provides jump-starts and responds when community members lock their keys in a car.

    “The Jewish community relies on Shomrim, and they’re a bridge between the police and the community,” said Guglielmi, the police spokesman. “Whatever we’ve needed from them, they’ve been helpful. This is more between the individual and the Police Department, than Shomrim.”

    Willner said the assault allegations were an aberration.

    “We’ve had over 4,600 calls for service the past five years, and this is the only incident we’ve had of this kind,” Willner said. “We’re going to continue to serve our community.”


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    15 Comments
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    DRE53
    DRE53
    13 years ago

    “This is more between the individual and the Police Department, than Shomrim.”
    this is a real strong comment.

    my4amos
    my4amos
    13 years ago

    I can assure everybody that Shomrim is an honorable initiative. On the other hand, young black men have been a menace to this neigbourhood for years, as they are everywhere else in proximity to where they reside, Baltimore and well as any other city I evere live in. I don’t claim to have witness this incident, but am grateful to this shomer for doing his best to keep us safe, and the hoodlums scared.

    Shekereinloraglayim
    Shekereinloraglayim
    13 years ago

    I don’t believe the charges, they sound unlikely and like a load of stale garbage, were there any witnesses? This shomrim guy has enough experience to know better, I just don’t buy it.
    I have personally experienced the lies these thugs invent and tell, when they get what comes their way after they commit a crime and get caught….

    Have you ever looked at a black teenager? What you lookin   is what they shout and then attmpt to threaten you with violence.

    BarryLS1
    BarryLS1
    13 years ago

    Would it have been better for the Shomrim member to have allowed the juvenile attacker to harm him first and then respond. The so-called victim is lucky that it was a Shomrim member and not a cop. In the exact circumstances, he would have been dead from a cops bullet. All we have here is one cop who doesn’t like Jews defending themselves. I’m sure that cop would want our community’s help if he were defend himself.

    13 years ago

    You people crack me up. It doesn’t matter which side of the law the Jewish person is on, you defend him. He may or may not be guilty and a thorough investigation will be done, but just because someone is Jewish does not automatically make him right. If the situation were reversed and a Jewish person had been injured by another ethnicity’s patrol, then it would be the patrol’s fault – a clear case of antisemitism. So many of you believe that Jews are above the law. They are not. I am not casting any aspersions on Mr. Werdesheim and I have absolutely no idea of innocence or guilt, but unlike the previous posters, I believe it is not my place to be the judge – that must be left to the legal system.

    Kanaim
    Kanaim
    13 years ago

    It’s about time is all I can say. I wish these guys were licensed to carry guns, too. Then this beheima would be history.

    areyouserious
    areyouserious
    13 years ago

    i live in baltimore and on more than one occaision experienced black kids yelling racial comments on top of their lungs.Maybe he just picked on the wrong jew this time. i didnt see the same uproar when a young jewish kid had his arm broken and was stoned by four youths.the silence was deafening.All i know is that when we have trouble shomrim is always there. they are the same group who jumped into deep water to save a life and were crucial to help solving various crimes. over 4000 calls and one “incident”? what other group or agency can boast that kind of record?e they get the backing they so richly deserve.

    13 years ago

    Statistically speaking, from the FBI’s own crime reports and statistics, Black males are disproportionately (based upon their percentage of the population), involved in crimes of violence and attacks upon whites, than attacks by whites against blacks. Politicians will always speak about black on black crime, but not one politician in the entire United States has the guts to discuss black on white crime. These same politicians will always scream “racism”, when a rare white on black crime takes place, but to them, it is not “racism”, when blacks attack whites, or specifically Jews.

    schwartzi
    schwartzi
    13 years ago

    hey # 5 commentator, you already forgot the crown heights RIOT and POGROM? wassa matter something wrong here? look at the good side. it couldve been another Amadiu Diallo. member him?

    Buchwalter
    Buchwalter
    13 years ago

    I live in Baltimore and personally don’t know Mr. Werdesheim. The Shomrim are the effect of a cause which is minority juvenile crime on Jewish citizen and not vice versa. The block where the incident occurred has house single family houses ranging from 350,000 to 500,000 and those juveniles probably were recoinnetering the area what crime could be perpetrated. The Shomrim are the effect of a cause. The cause is crime and the police being understaffed and does not have enough manpower. There was a time when you were not afraid to go at night to a sholem zocher or sheva broches and today you are. The cause are parents not supervising their offspring and the lack of parents period. This is not fault of Mr. Werdesheim but due to a broken family structure.

    Bachur
    Bachur
    13 years ago

    I also live in Baltimore’s orthodox community,. and i think that what many commentators before said about how the other segment of the population is so violent and everything are extraordinarily counter-productive to keeping Shalom (peace) in our community, and next time before you write publicly -please think about how other people may take it. I also fully support Shomrim but it doesn’t give me a reason bash others.