The man at the center of a melee on Tuesday night in Borough Park, Brooklyn, today criticized both the New York City police and the hundreds of Orthodox Jews who protested in the streets for hours after his arrest, even setting a police car on fire.

Arthur Schick, a 75-year-old caterer who was stopped by police on Tuesday for talking on his cellphone while driving, said he was not aware of the protest that ensued after police hauled him away until he was released from a holding cell at the 66th Precinct house hours later.

In an interview today in his home on East 17th Street in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, Mr. Schick said both sides were wrong.

"The riots were 100 percent wrong," he said. "Protest is good, but it has to be done in a legal, proper and civil manner.

"I came to Borough Park in 1938," he said. "Such behavior is really uncalled for."

He said he had filed a complaint with the police department's internal affairs office for the way he was handled by the two officers who pulled him over, saying they had roughed him.

The police arrested two men in addition to Mr. Schick, but no serious injuries were reported.

At police headquarters today, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said he believed the police acted appropriately in the way they handled the matter on Tuesday night, when hundreds of people from the Hassidic Jewish community chanted protests, with some setting bonfires and igniting a police car as word spread that Mr. Schick was being mistreated.

"I believe the response was appropriate to the situation," Mr. Kelly said during a meeting with reporters and leaders from the Hasidic community at police headquarters in Manhattan. "I'm satisfied with the response."

He said two officers were assaulted during the confrontation, including Sgt. Angelo Russo, one of the arresting officers, after someone in the crowd attempted to pull him down during the arrest.

Another officer at the scene, who Mr. Kelly did not identify, was kicked by Chaim Appel, 37, Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Appel, who faces an assault charge, is due to be arraigned today, a law enforcement official said.

Mr. Kelly identified the third man arrested as Chaim Gillig.

Mr. Schick complained of soreness in his hands today but seemed otherwise fine during the interview, and said he would be seeing a doctor about his injuries suffered when police forced him into a van after they arrested him.

He said the incident began around 6:30 p.m. when he was leaving Schick's Bakery, a neighborhood institution that he owned 40 years ago, after placing an order there for someone he knows.

He said he was driving down 47th Street in Borough Park, about to make a left turn, when "out of nowhere a police car appeared with lights."

Police later said they saw him talking on his cellphone even before he got into his car.

Mr. Schick said one officer approached him.

"He ran out of his car in a very hostile way," Mr. Schick said. "He said, 'Didn't you see my lights?' I said, 'No, I didn't see your lights.' "

The officer told him he had been using his cellphone while driving, which is against New York State law.

He aid the officer asked for his license and registration and insurance papers, which Mr. Schick said he provided. The officer went back to write him a ticket.

Mr. Schick said he then got out of his car to ask the officers for their names. He said one of the officers got out of his police car.

"He said, 'Get back to your car.' I said, 'Officer, can you give me your name and your partner's name?' "

He said the officer grabbed his own lapel and thrust badge towards Mr. Schick.

"He said, 'I'm officer Russo, can't you see it?' But he refused to give me his partner's name. I just said, 'Please give me the name of your partner.' I didn't scream at him. I didn't raise my voice," Mr. Schick said.

"Out of nowhere he started cuffing me," he said.

He said both officers began "pushing and shoving me."

Mr. Schick said a police van arrived shortly, and they asked him to get into it.

"It had a high step," he said. "I asked for help getting in. They wouldn't help me. Instead they pushed me into the seat of the van face down."

He said that by this point there were about 100 people watching and loudly commenting on what was happening.

He said that at the police precinct house, he was held in a room for about four hours, cuffed to a bar and with leg shackles. He said was held for about four hours until they finally let him go.

At a news conference in front of the precinct house, Assemblyman Dov Hikind and City Council Member Simcha Felder said they would ask for an investigation into how the police handled the matter.

But Mr. Hikind seemed to blame both sides for the escalating tension that culminated in the protests and fire.

"The behavior of hundreds of young people lighting fires, destroying trash cans, invading police cars, is inexcusable," he said. "We in the community will address that."

As for the police, he said that if officers had cooperated more with people in the community, the tensions would not have reached the level they did.

"Last night this police department was ineffective," he said.