According to police, men and women dressed in traditional Jewish clothing were attacked
Two perpetrators riding a Citi bike — one a young woman — struck a man and woman in traditional Jewish clothing in the head in Brooklyn, and police are investigating the incidents as possible hate crimes, police said.
A 43-year-old man told police he was walking on the corner of Wallabout and Walton Streets in South Williamsburg around 7:30 p.m. Thursday when two strangers on an electric bike approached him from behind and a woman was sitting on it The rider standing in front of the bike hit him on the back of the head.
The man, who could not be identified, refused medical attention.
A 24-year-old woman, about half a block away, also wearing traditional Jewish clothing, told police she was hit on the first victim immediately after the back of the head was hit. The woman was beaten in front of 184 people on Wallabout St. She was also not physically injured, police said.
Police released photos of the suspects, including a picture of one of them sitting on the front basket of the bike. The NYPD Hate Crimes Unit is conducting an investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or in Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by subscribing to the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
