Pregnant Hasidic woman attacked
*--start Left column*
The suspect is
also a stranger police believe was also Hasidic. The incident happened
in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
Eyewitness News reporter Phil Lipof has details.
There are Hasidic communities in close proximity to each other,
one is Williamsburg and another in Borough Park. People in the Hasidic
communities travel back and forth on a daily basis. And to do that,
they often catch rides with Hasidic strangers. It's a practice they've
been using for nearly four decades without a problem. Until now.
The young mother-to-be did what so many others do on a daily
basis in this area, she got into the car of a stranger for a ride over
to Borough Park, from one Hasidic community to another.
The man inside was dressed in traditional clothing and spoke
fluent Yiddish. She felt safe. That is, until he pulled over and took
out a knife.
"He had to take a tremendous chance of knowing that he's going
to injure the woman and the child if he was...successful of using that
knife," community activist Isaac Abraham said.
But the 21-year old, in her third trimester, fought the knife-wielding
man off. She wound up getting her wrist cut. Abraham says she needed
surgery and some stitches.
"I'm sure now they're going to be more hesitant to get into a car
unless it's a woman driver," neighbor Izzy King said. "Even if he's
speaking Yiddish and dressed Hasidic to the T."
King stopped to give a few men a ride Friday, at the same spot where the woman was picked up.
"It put everybody in a complete state of shock, that women were
scrambling to find out what happened, who it is, how they can help,"
King said.
"I know sometimes for the world it's difficult to understand how this
goes on, but they can view it," Abraham said, of the practice. "It's
been going on for 35 years and nothing, zero."
Until now.
Abraham and others in the community say this kind of sinister
attack is simply not tolerated, and everyone hopes police find the man
soon.
"But if there would have been street justice, and he was
apprehended by this community, I think this knife would have been used
for another circumcision," Abraham said. "And the community would have
decided to what extent."
That's the kind of anger eminating from this tight-knit
community. Police only have a vague deion to go on. The suspect
is a man in his 20s, dressed in traditional Hasidic clothing with a
medium build.
(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)
Brooklyn, NY - Community leaders have approached VIN News with an urgent request to post the following chilling story as a vital warning to our fellow Yidden. Yesterday at 11 AM, a young Williamsburg woman accepted a ride to Boro Park from an apparently heimish man, dressed in Chasidic garb – hat, tzites, beard, and Yiddish-speaking. Several minutes into the ride, he stopped the car, pulled out a knife, and attempted to rape his vulnerable passenger. Thankfully, the victim didn't lose her senses, and was brave enough to struggle against her attacker. She escaped from the car in time, and 911 emergency personnel arrived at the scene moments after.
Eyewitness News
