Brooklyn, NY – One week after an Israeli court approved Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ request to extradite a former Crown Heights resident to the United States in order to face charges of a 2008 bias attack, people are rallying to his support, calling the district attorney’s campaign politically motivated and a miscarriage of justice.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Yitzchak Shuchat, who now lives outside of Tel Aviv, was indicted for second degree assault as a hate crime, following the alleged April 2008 beating of a black man, Andrew Charles, on Albany Avenue in Crown Heights. Shuchat, a member of the Shmira crime patrol was responding to a report of two black men throwing rocks at a fourteen year old Jewish girl when the alleged attack occured. An arrest warrant was issued for Shuchat four weeks after the incident, but by that time a nervous Shuchat had left the United States, first for Canada, before finally settling in Israel.
Charles, the son of Moses Charles, an NYPD officer, stated openly on News 12 that he believed the attack was an isolated attack and was not racially motivated. Despite the protests of both Shuchat and Charles, the attack was labeled a bias crime and the district attorney’s office convened a grand jury to conduct an investigation, something that Charles Hynes has done only four times in his twenty two year career as a district attorney.
“We feel the DA’s office has gone over and above the norm to try to bring Yitzhak to trial and bring him back as a trophy to the black community, perhaps because of his father’s position within the NYPD,” Levi Freundlich, Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council, a Crown Heights based organization that is attempting to raise awareness of this case. “We are suspicious of the district attorney’s motives and consider this to be a gross miscarriage of justice.”
With just weeks left to appeal the extradition, Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind sent a two page letter to Yaakov Ne’eman, Israel’s Minister of Justice, asking him to consider the facts of the case very seriously.
“What makes this a hate crime?” Dov Hikind asked in a VIN News interview. “Based on the simple facts, a patrol went to a location where criminal activity was reported. They went out to protect the community and resulted in what we are now faced with, being charged with a hate crime. I’m sorry, I just don’t see it and I hope my letter will persuade the Minister of Justice to take a closer look and see that this is an alleged assault not a hate crime.”
DA Hynes raised eyebrows at the time by comparing the Shmira patrol to gang members saying, as quoted in the Daily News, “You can’t have a group, whether it’s the Bloods, Crips of Shmira, acting like vigilantes.”
But others questioned Hynes’ strong reaction to this question, questioning his motives.
“They are looking for a scapegoat because this was a police officer’s son,” Daniel Goldstein, Shuchat’s uncle, told the Daily News in 2008.
If convicted, Shuchat faces up to fifteen years in prison.
A web site to help Shuchat was set up by Jewish groups here
This poor shnook is being extradited. However, the child molestor Avrohom Mondrowitz has yet to be extradited back to face justice.
I thought that the Israelis don’t extradite Jews from Israel, back to other countries? Isn’t that a violation of Halacha?
Extradite him and let the NY courts decide whether it was a hate crime.
Shame on you, charles hynes.
If the fellow thought he was innocent he never should have ran. By running he dug himself a deeper hole. I do agree it was most likley not a hate crime but the fellow should have had a cooler head.
This case seems anti semetic .Hynes uses a religous jew to prosecute shuchat to show everyone he is not out to get shuchat and tries to down play the situation
Why is this being called a “hate Crime” & when the jewish man was assaulted few weeks ago friday night in williamsburg at lee & ross was not called a ” hate crime” !!!???? Because a jew assaulted a non jewish person its a crime !!!???…. #discrimination #NYC
If Israel is all set on extraditing him, doesn’t that prove that Linda Reede and the prosecution was “WRONG” in denying SMR bail because he would flee to Israel etc.?
As far as this being the son of a police officer, why isn’t Hines investigating what the police officers are doing to the Jewish people in Crown Heights? That is an investigations way past due.
If we don’t want to have more SMRs held without bail because of a fear they will run away to EY and not be subject to extradition thats fine. But don’t cry gevalt when frum yidden who are convicted felons like SMR are subject to preventive detention. Hynes is correct to seek to get this guy back to Brooklyn to face charges.
What do you call a serious assualt? His chief complaint was that he had a bruise on his arm and they discharged him 5 minutes later from the hospital with a advil. This goes on in a school yard everyday
Seems like to me that this entire situation is blown out of perportion by Hynes . Shuchat sat in jail for 75 days and has been in house arrest for 4 moths . I think he paid his dues million times already. Shuchat should sue the Da and police dpt . This a hate crime against shuchat because he is jewish
may g-d protect him from all evil
You can make the argument both ways, would you think the same if a black patrolman would’ve beaten a jewish guy?
what with all the numerous incidents between black and hassidim that happened in the past few years? its a two way street.
Shuchat running is no proof that he knew he did something wrong. He ran because he knew he was massered upon and he might not be judged justly , the black guy being a police officer’s son.
why is he guilty? Did he randomly pick a guy and assaulted him? He was called to come to the rescue bec. this guy was doing something dangerous.
Those that massered on him , well they are oiver on not having rachmonus al momoinom shel yisroel since they are now collecting to fight against his extradition.
If your a Jew today and have issues with American courts, YOU LOSE! Israel please keep this Yid in Israel. They always give the Jews full maximum punishment. Despite it all.
what a shame, this is a guy who has been involved in bikur choilim and chesed shel emes his whole life, its a chutzpa for anyone that calls himself a frum yid to speak a bad word about this guy, especially if you dont know the situation, growing up in crown heights I owe my life to guys like Yitzie, who took the fall to keep our streets safe