The 19-year-old man accused of beating an Israeli Columbia University student with a stick this week was charged with a hate crime — and given supervised release during his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, prosecutors said.
Maxwell Friedman – who goes by his real name – is charged with second- and third-degree assault, both hate crimes – in connection with the 6:10 p.m. attack Wednesday on a 24-year-old male student in front of Butler Library on the Morningside Heights campus, according to criminal complaints and accounts from the NYPD.
Part of the attack was captured on video, according to Assistant District Attorney Alberto Gomez, who is pushing for the highest level of supervised release to ensure Friedman – who lives in Brooklyn but has family out of state – returns to court.
Judge Soma Syed eventually agreed to oversee the release, but at a lower level.
The victim — who spoke to The Columbia Daily Spectator but identified himself only as “IA” — was part of a group that had posted leaflets around the university about Israel’s toll during a bloody Hamas sneak attack over the weekend, according to court documents.
Maxwell Friedman, 19, who was accused of hitting a Columbia University student in Israel with a stick this week was charged with a hate crime and later given supervised release.REUTERS
They have also posted photos of families kidnapped from Israel in designated news bulletin areas, the complaint said.
Friedman began to tear down and tear up several posters, before he allegedly made snide remarks about the group.
“F–k you. F–k all you p—k crackers,” Friedman quipped, according to the complaint.
“I don’t respect you. What are you going to do about it? Do you want to talk about it like an adult? If you have a problem, we can deal with it now, fam. P—–s.”
Friedman then pushed the victim and hit him with a hard wooden object that appeared to be a broomstick – causing him to break a finger and cut himself, the complaint said.
Friedman was charged with second- and third-degree assault, both hate crimes in connection with the attack of a 24-year-old male student in front of Butler Library, according to a criminal complaint and an account from the NYPD. Reuters
“This is because I became an Israeli today. Not me for being myself,” the victim told the student newspaper. “This is because I am an Israeli who is under certain threats.”
The student said he will not be returning to campus anytime soon out of concern for his safety.
IA has also told other Jewish and Israeli classmates that he does not feel safe, and warned them of hostility on campus as the Israel-Hamas conflict continues.
“We are all quite shocked that this could happen on our own campus, which is supposed to be a safe place,” he told the newspaper.
“We don’t know how to deal with the situation, not to mention our family and friends are going through the worst nightmare, and we are mentally in the same boat as them,” he continued.
Part of the attack was captured on video, according to Assistant District Attorney Alberto Gomez, who is pushing for the highest level of supervised release to ensure Friedman’s return to court. Reuters
“And, now, we have to deal with the situation that the campus is not a safe place for us anymore.”
Friedman was also charged with aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the complaint.
A representative for Columbia University did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment on Friday.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
