Brooklyn, NY – Just hours after a suspect was arrested for the January murder of 39 year old Menachem Stark, Assemblyman Dov Hikind had harsh words for those who sensationalized the Williamsburg businessman’s death and took the opportunity to publicly cast Stark in a negative light.
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“On top of the terrible tragedy of Menachem Stark being brutalized and murdered, his parents, his wife and his children had to suffer the indignity of hearing what a horrible individual their son, husband and father was,” Hikind told VIN News.
“If you go back to the tragedy, so many things were alluded to. So many things were said about the people who hated him and that everyone was out to get him. Based on what we know right now it seems that all of the conjecture was absolutely wrong and that this was simply a robbery gone awry.”
Hikind slammed the New York Post for the insensitivity of their cover page after the murder, featuring a picture of a shtreimel clad Stark and asking “Who didn’t want him dead?”
“Even today, when we know that his death was just a robbery, the Post is still referring to him as a ‘slumlord’,” said Hikind. “Come on, what does that have to do with anything?”
The negative aspersions that were cast on Stark’s reputation had a detrimental effect on the entire community, according to Hikind.
“Even as the family was sitting shiva, there were so many horrible stories that were being spread around, pointing the finger at the whole community,” said Hikind.
“Everyone felt the pain and there is a real lesson to be learned here. Before we all think we are experts and jump to conclusions, we need to take a deep breath and wait and not point fingers and say nasty things. We need to watch what comes out of our mouths because what we say can cause a lot of pain which is exactly what happened here.”
Hikind praised both the NYPD and District Attorney Thompson’s office for their painstaking efforts in the Stark case.
“This wasn’t just about arresting someone,” explained Hikind. “It was about being on top of a situation, building enough evidence to build a strong case so that we can get a conviction and get justice for Menachem Stark, for the family, for the community and for all of New York.”
Dov Hikind. Just a real mentch!
I always thought R’Dov is the greatest mentch. We need more like him to represent our community. He’s a talker and a do’er. Zei gebentcht, Dov!!
It has NOT officially been confirmed yet that it was a robbery.
If anyone is jumping the gun, it’s he, himself, since the evidence in this case has not yet been made public yet and all the talk is merely speculation.
Proof that he is jumping the gun is that thought this entire case, there has been an endless flow of misleading and unconfirmed reports, all allegedly coming form alleged unofficial police sources and all turned out to be false, so far.
When things are “leaked” form police in an unofficial manner, unconfirmed, officially yet, they are proven wrong most of the time, after the official report is issued.
It’s known that the victim was found with $4,000 in his pocket, which rules out robbery.
This is just an attempt to be first to catch the headlines, before all the hard facts come out, in this case.
If the lesson is, as he says that:
“we need to take a deep breath and wait and not point fingers and say nasty things”
Then he should practice what he preaches, himself, first.
So this is how it works.
On this earth, the בית דין של מטה is powerless to punish the NY Prost for their blasphemous rhetoric but in the בית דין של מעלה they will have a lot of answering to do and sorry won’t quite swing it….let’s all be מאמינים and realize that ה’ rules the world.
Thank you and well said, Dov!
That said, Stark’s family should take legal action against the NY Post for the untold suffering and harm they caused them during the week of shivah.
I despise this system of people suing each other over ‘naarishkeit’ but this is justified!