Brooklyn, NY – Community leaders are calling for calm in the wake of a hachnasas sefer Torah in Borough Park that dissolved into chaos, leading to the arrest of one participant.
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The incident took place at approximately 6 PM this evening.
Police said that they arrived on 16th Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets to disburse a large crowd that had gathered on the street without a permit. According to the NYPD, one individual who was walking down the center of the roadway was taken into custody after becoming “combative” when asked to move to the sidewalk.
Numerous onlookers took out their cellphones and began filming as the NYPD attempted to restrain the man, whose name has not yet been released by police. Cell phone footage shows several police officers attempting to handcuff the unidentified man who refused to comply with their requests to put his hands behind his back, with onlookers screaming loudly at police.
Shmira head Levi Leifer said that he had been contacted by organizers of the hachnasas sefer Torah yesterday about the procession.
No officials permits had been secured for the celebration said Leifer, who told organizers that there was no way to secure a permit on such short notice, suggesting instead that they move the procession through quickly to avoid any problems.
But issues cropped up quickly when an NYPD officer arrived on scene to discover that the street was inexplicably closed to traffic, with throngs of people taking to the roadway, explained Yidel Perlstein, chairman of Community Board 12.
After participants refused to listen to a directive to move onto the sidewalk and began pushing police officers, additional units were called to the scene and chaos ensued.
Perlstein said that the NYPD has a long history of working together with the local community to coordinate logistics whenever a hachnasas sefer Torah is scheduled to take place.
“The police allow every single one and they are there with support,” Perlstein told VIN News. “They bring cops to block off the street, but in this case they had zero knowledge of what was going on.”
Three other hachasas sefer Torahs went off smoothly today in Borough Park, noted Perlstein. In each of those instances, the proper permits were obtained in advance.
“Every one that happens we inform the NYPD and they never give us a problem,” said Perlstein. “They are not here to fight us.”
Assemblyman Dov Hikind said that he has been in close contact with the commanding officer of the 66 Precinct and called for cooler heads to prevail as the facts of the incident are reviewed.
“There is no question that things got out of control today,” said Hikind. “Everyone has to take a step back so that we can find out what happened. We work closely with our local precinct and we don’t have a confrontational relationship with them and they are for us when we have these processions which happen almost every week.”
Hikind said that he was told that the individual who was arrested refused to listen to police when he was told to move onto the sidewalk.
“A hachnasas sefer Torah is a beautiful thing but when a police officer tells you to move, you have to listen,” said Hikind. “Every person cannot be their own boss.”
I just don’t get why some Yidden think they don’t have to follow police procedure and instructions. it’s only looking for trouble as demonstrated by this episode.
Very unfortunate. The man will get a disorderly ticket and pay a small fine but this should not have happened. Cop says move, you move. You can discuss it after you are on the sidewalk.
Walking in the street isn’t an arrestable (?) offence.
You can get a jay walking ticket see Title 34, Section 4-04, Subsection (b) of the New York City Administrative Code.
Additionally, NYS VTL Article 27 S 1156 says that if as long as the side-walk is you should use it. The people on the street will claim that the sidewalk was congested and unsafe because of the crowds at this religiously (protected) event.
Before pushing the pedestrian, the police officer should have asked for ID and then written him up for walking in the street.
Of course if the police officer wants to escalate she can push or shove.
On the other hand, a civil rights lawyer probably could make an interesting case out of this arrest.
i remember the same thing in germany- when police attacked us in the streets
What a chillul Hashem. If they had applied for a permit there would have been no incident.
I don’t know who’s right or wrong. I just see striking viciousness in the eyes and the actions of the cops especially with blonde hair.
This is just so black and white and clearly we had no right to do this nor respond like we did and yelling nazi etc. The Frum world is so sick and we need a yeshua and rachmanus from shemayim.
What a true chillul HaShem. Why do we think that we don’t have to abide by din hamalchus? All they had to do was ask for a permit. and when told to move off the street by the police follow the orders. Instead we make a scene and invoke civil rights and Germany & all other idiotic reasons. There was no permit, the police were doing their jobs, obey the requests and stop being spoiled brats.
Dina demalchusa dina – a permit would have avoided this chillul H-shem. Short of that, cooperation goes alot further than confrontation.
This was nothing; all of you have a very short memory and seem to forget how the cops acted, in Borough Park, on Chol Hamoed Pesach, in 2006, after they roughed up Mr. Schick, the owner of Schick’s bakery, over a traffic incident. They threw him into a paddy wagon, after he was handcuffed. One cop was overheard stating that “this is how we treat ni—-s”. When a large crowd gathered to protest, the cops called in the TPF and other goons who roughed up men and women. One Chassid complained that a cop pulled hair out of his beard. I remember seeing another large goon showing a Jewish woman. Yet, that slimeball Mayor Bloomberg, had the chutzpah to return to Borough Park in 2009, seeking votes. However, in 2006, he never condemned how brutal the cops acted in Borough Park. Also, in 1999, the cops shot dead Gideon Bosch of Borough Park, who was holding a hammer, and not making any aggressive moves toward them. They all got away with killing that individual.
interesting to note that here in Israel charadim do not have smart phones, but seems like in BP everyone has them…..
who were the organizers of the hachnesset sefer Torah that did not bother getting the permit? should have done it on the sidewalk instead….
Unfortunately someone forgot or was ignorant of the need to co ordinate controlling traffic with police. Rather than accept his mistake and delay the march, he arrogantly goes ahead anyway pretending that holding up traffic including possibly ambulances fire trucks and police emegency responders is somehow kivod for the Torah.
Clearly the nypd officer who pushed and shoved is a rapid anti Semite, how come no comment from kalman yeger? Because his wife jenny berger works for De blasio he doesn’t want to comment against the mayor’s personal protectors. Where is kalman?
What a chillul Hashem.
Dear Mr who got arrested,
Do you not understand that your chillul hashem is now a part or the youtube library that can and will be used by anyone wanting to show jews in a negative light? I have no doubt that thursday night at 2am instead of having cha’rutah for causing a busha for Klal Yisroel , u will be telling everyone the great story of how u were arrested and wear this incident as a badge of honor.
If you are a mench, i challenge you to release a video apologizing for your actions and be an example for Klal Yisroel and show the world why we are Gods chosen people and that we not only dress the part but walk the walk and talk the talk of hakadosh baruchu.
most of the comments are from our typical spineless stance, where we advocate for shalom while our aggressors take advantage.
the only chilul hashem is from us, when we do absolutely nothing. i for one am proud and happy to see that a melee occurred following the anti semitic, anti jew and hate filled corrupted cops’ aggression.
there should have been one hundred arrests. about time we fight back
acted outside the bounds. We cannot have anarchy. There is video of police asking him to get on the sidewalk 3 times and each time he thumbs his nose and gets back on the street. Then he resists arrest in a way that would have gotten a black person tassered in the least. This does not call for an over reaction. It is time for responsible people to take a step back, take a deep breath and smooth this over with an aim of preventing it in the future.
One way to know that you are on the wrong side of a story is if your side resorts to calling cops (even those who behave a little badly) “Nazis”.
Yidel Perlstein has the right attitude to this situation. He is an asset to the community. Let him handle it and everyone else should butt out.
As a side note, something should be done about this Shomrim/Shmira rivalry before someone gets really hurt.
My take:
In this great country of the USA more than anywhere else you must obey what a police officer tells you. You can fight it in court afterwards who was right.
Police officers are usually almost right even in court. They can kill a person and rarely will they be found guilty. Even with clear video that they were wrong still they are found being right.
This is America like it or not.
Many times there are large crowds in other neighborhoods, and the police as a matter of policy choose to ignore it so that they don’t rile up the neighborhood. This happens all over BedStuy and Bushwick.
The only question here is how the police acted. The fact that the individual chose to resist is not a chilul hashem. We live in a country where people are resisting the government and police on a daily basis.
And the fact is that the police were the aggressors in this case. The correct policy of the NYPD is to look away at these type of incidents. It took one hot headed officer to create this chaos.
In any other community this officer would be reprimanded, and the community would have demanded so. Yet in our community we congratulate the officer and condemn the hachnosos sefer torah. THAT is a chilul hashem.
To: ShatzMatz- #23 - Your comments to #13 , are shocking, disturbing, and factually inaccurate. The fact of the matter is that Mr. Schick was double parked on a street. He had a hearing problem, and may have misunderstood the cops, who were in back of him, and wanted to pass him. I agree that he may have made an error when he acted cocky to the cops, when he exited his car. However, that by itself did not give those two goons of the NYPD to physically rough him up, handcuff him, and shove him viciously into a paddy wagon. Mr. Schick at the time was 75 years old, and certainly was not a physical threat to those two cops; perhaps their egos were hurt, and they didn’t appreciate Schick acting too uppity towards them, and not being deferential enough (i.e. kissing their tuchas).. However, as Harry Truman stated “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”. Every Jewish politician in NYC, with the exception of that phony, Bloomberg, condemned the NYPD for their heavy handed tactics against the residents of Borough Park. The cops would not have acted that way in Bed-Stuy, or in Bay Ridge.
Your remark that the Gideon Bosch case “was a textbook police shooting”, was also inaccurate. There were eyewitnesses on the scene who stated that Bosch never made any hostile moves towards the cops, or threatened them with his hammer. The cops lied, when they asserted the reverse. Bosch had been blinded by the sun, and had previously been sprayed with mace, so he couldn’t even see to attack the cops. However, the five or six cops at the scene (who were poorly supervised), were too lazy to contain the situation, and wait for more experienced personnel to arrive. Instead, they took the easy way out, and blew Mr. Bosch away, and got away with it, as is usually the case in such shootings.It is extremely rare for any cop to be indicted for murder or manslaughter. Even when such cases go to trial, convictions happen in less than 25% of those cases. Incidentally, what did you mean that “he didn’t belong in our community”. Don’t you think there are mentally challenged people living in Borough Park? The vast majority, are harmless. Your attitude regarding the 1999 Bosch case, and the 2006 Schick case case, and the police response to both, in Borough Park stinks!
This wiseguy didn’t listen to the police. Period end of sentence.