The Brooklyn Supreme Court has released on bail five ultra-Orthodox members of the Hashomerim organization in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, who were arrested on charges of beating a young black man in the neighborhood, the Daily News reports.
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, members of the organization were arrested on suspicion of beating a black student on December 1. The prosecution decided that they would be charged with aggravated assault and several other charges, but would not be charged with a "hate crime.".
• 4 of the 'Guardians' in Williamsburg arrested: accused of beating a black man
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The defendants, Aaron Hollander, (28), Avraham Winkler, (39), Meir Hershkowitz, (21), Pinchas Brewer, (19), and Yosef Fried, (25), are accused of deciding that the victim, Taj Patterson, damaged a vehicle in the neighborhood.
""They shouted, 'Keep your head down,' and they hit me in the face and all over my body," Patterson said. He said they beat him, cursing and shouting racial slurs at him.
According to the Daily News, only two of the attackers allegedly belong to the "Guardians" organization, while the rest of the attackers are "vandals.".
According to the indictment, Taj Patterson, 22, was beaten in the early morning hours of December 1 on Flushing Avenue in the neighborhood. The group beat Patterson with great violence, breaking his eye socket and tearing his retina.
""We simply cannot allow a situation where anyone walking the streets of Brooklyn can find themselves thrown to the ground and brutally beaten," said Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson. "These indictments send a clear message that taking the law into our own hands is an act that will not be condoned, not by the NYPD," said Bill Bratton, the NYPD Commissioner, in a statement.
Hershkowitz was identified by the prosecutor as the main suspect, and according to the prosecution, he was the one who brutally hit Patterson in the face.
Fried, the secretary of the Daily, is already accused of impersonating "Lemon Juice" and leaking photos of the complainant against Rabbi Weberman, in a case that shocked New York.
All defendants were released on bail in amounts ranging from 25,000$ to 50,000$.
According to legal sources, if the five are found guilty, they face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
