BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A Brooklyn Heights rabbi attacked by a teenager last weekend led a rally Friday morning calling on police to add patrol units to Joralemon Street, where community members say crime has been on the rise as groups of teens walk to Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Rabbi Aaron Raskin, 48, held a rally with local elected officials and other religious leaders near Congregation B’nai Avraham, the Orthodox synagogue he heads on Remsen Street.
“We are asking the NYPD to add more police on the streets and specifically on Joralemon Street where the attacks have occurred,” Raskin said.
The prominent religious leader was attacked Sunday just after 6 p.m. as he was walking home from the synagogue, according to the rabbi and police.
The rabbi said he was talking on his cell phone when he was approached by a group of five teenage “thugs,” one of whom punched him on the head, making him drop his phone to the ground.
The teen who punched him tried to reach down to grab the phone, but the rabbi was able to fend him off and the teens fled, Raskin said.
Police searched the neighborhood and arrested a 15-year-old, charging him with grand larceny, according to the NYPD.
A spokesman for Raskin said the rabbi is hoping the charges will be upgraded to include assault.
Linda DeRosa, president of the Willowtown Association, said in a statement that the neighborhood is working to find solutions to the “escalating amount of unsavory behavior” by teenagers hanging out at Brooklyn Bridge Park late at night.
“As yet another spring season approaches, we are already feeling a level of anxiety as
incidences from large groups of youths headed to and from BBP disrupt our community on a number of levels including outright attacks, as Rabbi Raskin experienced,” the statement reads.
A spokeswoman for Brooklyn Bridge Park said the park is working with police to keep community members safe.
“We take security at the Park and of the surrounding neighborhoods seriously and work closely with NYPD and our [Park Enforcement Patrol] officers on a daily basis and meet regularly with community members to discuss their concerns," reads an email statement from the park.
While police said there has not been a spike in reported crime in the neighborhood, Raskin said his congregation has been working with the 84th precinct to make Brooklyn Heights safer.
Although police said the attack was not being classified as a hate crime, an interfaith and multinational showing of local leaders pointed to Brooklyn’s diverse population and called for an end to intolerance at Friday’s rally.
“We are the most glorious community that you could ask for here in Brooklyn,” Councilman Stephen Levin said. “We are truly a diverse tapestry and we need to continue to stand up for that.”
