CROWN HEIGHTS — The NYPD is looking for a man suspected of lighting a fire on a bus decorated with Jewish symbols and used in a Jewish pride music video, the department said Thursday.
The multi-colored bus used as a "mitzvah bus" in Hasidic singer Benny Friedman’s video “I’m a Jew and I’m Proud” was totaled early Monday morning in Crown Heights after a fire lit in the middle of the night gutted the inside of the vehicle.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
Police released surveillance video Thursday of the suspect, who investigators say approached the school bus parked at Troy Avenue and Maple Street, lit it on fire, then fled north on foot toward East New York Avenue.
On the video, the man is seen walking on a sidewalk wearing a white T-shirt with writing on the front, black pants and a backward baseball cap.
An outpouring of support from the Jewish community followed the arson of the bus, owned by artist Lev Scheiber. As of Thursday, an online fundraiser to replace the bus had raised more than $3,400 of a $10,000 goal.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, (888) 57-PISTA (74782).
