Black College Student Attacked by Jewish Gang in Crown Heights (BK). Grand Jury Probing Incident. Cops: Hasidic community taking page from rappers' “No Snitch” Code.
April 24, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) The Brooklyn district attorney will seat an investigative grand jury to probe the beating of an unarmed black man by two Jewish men in Crown Heights, the Daily News has learned. The victim - a 20-year-old college student and the son of a cop - has met with prosecutor Charles Hynes about the April14 attack in a neighborhood with a long history of racial tension. "He's an excellent young man, and I met with him personally to assure him that I would do everything in my power to bring to justice those who humiliated him," Hynes said Wednesday. Daily News columnist Errol Louis revealed details of the troubling attack in Wednesday's editions, citing fears of unrest if arrests are not made soon. Police sources say their investigation has been slowed by the refusal of neighborhood Hasidic residents to cooperate with authorities. "Right now, the Hasidic community is taking a page from the rappers' 'don't snitch' campaign," said a police source. The investigative grand jury can subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify. Andrew Charles, a sophomore at Kingsbridge Community College, was walking along Albany Ave. when a white attacker on a bicycle sprayed him with Mace, police sources said. A GMC Envoy then pulled up, with a second man emerging from the vehicle to smash Charles in the back and arm with a nightstick, police said. An adviser to the Charles family said both the attackers were wearing yarmulkes. Charles was treated at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and released. (BBN: In the Daily News print edition, the article included a quote from an unnamed police source who said: “Right now, the Hasidic community is taking a page from the rappers’ “don’t snitch” campaign.)