It happened around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday on Eastern Parkway near Kingston Avenue.
Video of the incident showed the suspect, identified by police as Dan Sohail, then got out of his car and told the gathered crowd, "I dunno, it slipped! It slipped, you f-king a-hole!"
He appeared to spit at the crowd as NYPD officers led him toward their police cruiser as he wore only a shirt and shorts.
"The hate crime right now is that he basically attacked a Jewish institution," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. "He knew it was a synagogue."
Police officials say Sohail claims it was an accident.
"He stated that the reason the car - he lost control of the car - is because he was wearing clunky boots," Kenny said.
Sohail was transported out of the 71st Precinct Thursday night, with exclusive video appearing to show him in the same outfit he was wearing the night he was arrested.
According to Jewish community leaders, Sohail told police he had been to synagogues in New York and New Jersey in recent months, asking how he could convert and looking for spiritual guidance. They said he seemed like he had studied Judaism as a way to deal with the problems he was having in life.
On one occasion, the suspect told a synagogue in New Jersey that God sent him. He was agitated and not allowed in.
"They welcomed him, he was dancing with them, and apparently there were multiple Chabad communities in New Jersey that he had approached, and he was somehow upset that they weren't more accepting of him, and lashed out at Chabad as a result, that's my understanding," said Scott Richman, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League.
No guns or explosive devices were found in the car. The building was evacuated as a precaution.
Kenny said Sohail visited 770 Eastern Parkway previously before he returned Wednesday night.
Video from two weeks ago shows the same man dancing inside and wearing what appears to be the same clothes. Lubavitcher leaders said he had expressed an interest in converting.
The incident happened during a Chabad holiday, when thousands of people were visiting the historic building. Police say it was fortunate that no one was injured.
City officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, responded to the scene after it happened and said there will be a thorough investigation.
"This is deeply alarming, especially given the deep meaning and history of the institution," Mamdani said. "Any threat to a Jewish institution must be taken seriously. Antisemitism has no place in our city. I stand in solidarity with the Crown Heights Jewish community."
Governor Kathy Hochul promised more state police at synagogues Thursday night, in response to the car ramming.
"I was sickened by it and I called leaders in the community immediately," she said.
It all comes less than a week after 57 swastikas were found scrawled across a playground in Borough Park and two days after a rabbi was assaulted in Forest Hills on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Arrests were made in both incidents.
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