OAN’s Brooke Mallory
1:20 PM – Thursday, May 30, 2024
After reportedly attempting to run over a gathering of students and rabbis outside a Jewish school in Brooklyn on Wednesday, a driver is now being charged with multiple hate crimes.
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Asghar Ali, 58, is accused of slamming his car’s brakes, spinning it around, and lunging towards onlookers in front of the Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School in Canarsie.
Police sources revealed that Ali is a Pakistani cab driver with a long history of mental illness. He has also been arrested four times before, the most recent one being in 1998.
“Pakistan’s population is 96.3 percent Muslim (85–90 percent Sunni, 10–15 percent Shi’a, and 0.2 percent Ahmadi),” according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Track markings remain where he swerved his car abruptly at the group, FOX 5 NY’s Briella Tomasetti reported on Thursday morning.
Additionally, the instant that his car jumped the curb and dangerously sped down the sidewalk was also captured on camera.
Ali was driving a White Ford sedan on Glenwood Road when it went east on 55th Street and then veered back toward the male students and rabbis, according to the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol.
“Witnesses on the scene said that he was yelling anti-Semitic slurs, including, ‘I’m going to kill all the Jews!’ during the rampage,” FOX 5 reported.
Soon after, Ali attempted to flee the scene of the incident, but locals and police quickly found him and he was arrested.
Council member Farah N. Louis posted a statement:
“Asghar Ali’s attempt to mow down students outside the Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School in Canarsie is reprehensible and will not be tolerated. No group or community should live in fear of violence, discrimination, or intimidation. We must address the rising trend of anti-Semitism to prevent such hateful acts in the future.”
Five males were listed as targets of the suspect by the NYPD, including three 18-year-olds, a 41-year-old, and a 44-year-old, all unidentified. However, the NYPD says that none of Ali’s targeted individuals were harmed.
The driver was brought in for questioning by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force on Wednesday night, and the investigation is still underway.
Ali is accused of committing over a dozen hate crimes, including menacing, attempted murder, attempted assault, and reckless driving.
According to the New York Post, the authorities believe that this attack was most likely an isolated occurrence with no connection to terrorism.
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