Bias crimes in New York City on the rise, spike in antisemitic incidents: NYPD
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Hate crimes in New York City are on the rise, according to crime statistics released by the NYPD.
In total, there were 101 bias incidents in October compared to 45 incidents in the same month last year, police said.
The NYPD defines a bias incident as an offense that is "motivated in whole or substantial part by a person's, a group's or a place's identification with a particular race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, ancestry, national origin, or sexual orientation."
Sixty-nine of the bias incidents were referred to as anti-Jewish incidents by the NYPD, compared to 22 anti-Jewish incidents in October 2022.
Tensions are rising in New York as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on in the Mideast.
Multiple incidents over the last month are now being investigated as bias crimes by the NYPD. No arrests have been made in at least three of the alleged bias crimes. Police are seeking information from the public in regard to these incidents.
On October 9, four suspects painted antisemitic graffiti across the rooftops of four buildings near East 85th Street and 3rd Avenue, police say.
Police released new images Thursday of the four alleged suspects, and the NYPD hate crimes task force is investigating the incident.
The suspects fled the scene, and no injuries were reported to police.
On November 7, a suspect allegedly threw a cup of hot coffee and a cell phone at a man and his 18-month-old son in Brooklyn, the man told police. The incident occurred at Edmonds Playground in Fort Greene Monday, police say. The victim claims the suspect accused him of supporting Hamas and yelled anti-Islamic slurs at him. Neither the victim nor his son were hurt in the incident, police say.
"I want it to stop," Prashar said. "I don't want a child to be stabbed 23 times in Illinois. I don't want my child nearly scolded by hot coffee and I don't want this to happen to another human being. I see those kids in Gaza and I see my child."
Ashish Prashar, 40, told CNN he was at a Brooklyn basketball court with his son on Monday when a woman charged at the pair and hurled slurs at them, threw her coffee at him and eventually hit him.
"My whole goal was to protect my son," Prashar said. "There was disbelief in the beginning when she called me a terrorist. But then it got worse, and it got more serious. I needed to protect my son and keep him at a safe distance."
The suspect was last seen wearing a black and white baseball hat, black sunglasses and a gray scarf.
On November 9, just before midnight, a 41-year-old woman witnessed two other women removing Israeli missing person posters from a light pole at the corner of Riverside Drive and West 82nd Streeton the Upper West Side, police say. The woman then engaged in an argument with the two unknown suspects as she recorded them on her cellphone, the NYPD says.
According to police, the two suspects then began to physically assault the woman, and ripped the Star of David necklace off of her neck. The alleged suspects knocked the woman's cellphone from her hand and fled the scene. The woman sustained minor injuries to her face and neck, police say.
Anyone with information in regard to any of these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
CNN Wire contributed to this story.
ALSO READ | New York City, Tri-State animal shelters at capacity, emblematic of national crisis
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
