Orthodox Jewish Man Beaten, Suspects To Be Charged

They were allegedly swinging sticks and slinging racial slurs. Three people have been charged with beating a Brooklyn man and police are investigating it as a hate crime.

The victim recorded it on his cell phone and shared the footage exclusively with CBS2.

It started as a fender-bender in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. Ruben Werczbeger’s car was hit from behind.

While surveying the damage, investigators say three people on the sidewalk who had nothing to do with the accident attacked Werczberger, an orthodox Jew who wears a beard, side curls, and a yarmulke.

They came out of nowhere and smashed Werczberger’s windshield with a two by four, allegedly because he’s Jewish.

Werczberger is Hasidic and was driving to his Borough Park home on Tuesday night, when he got into a fender bender in Sunset Park. Minutes later three people, two of them women, attacked.
Werczberger did not suffer any serious injuries.

District Attorney Ken Thompson created the office’s first ever hate crime bureau to prosecute cases like this. “We can’t have people getting attacked on the streets of Brooklyn because of who they are,” Thompson said.

Despite there being video evidence of the crime, which helps in prosecuting the case, D.A. Thompson said he does not encourage people to record criminal acts because ti can jeopardize their safety and make the attackers even more angry.