10-year-old Haredi boy leads to arrest of 'Boro Park sprayer' • Suspect: Former police officer

May 4, 2014   

Hero of the day: The arrest of the "Boro Park Sprayer" - who flooded the Haredi neighborhood of Brooklyn with dozens of swastikas and hateful graffiti against Jews - was made possible thanks to the vigilance of a 10-year-old Haredi boy. The boy, who noticed the sprayer in action, noticed the license plate number of his car, and passed the information on to the "Guardians" organization, who in turn passed it on to the police - who captured the suspect. The biggest shock after the arrest was actually among the ranks of the police: It turns out that the suspect, Michael Stephen, a resident of the Queens borough of Asian descent, was a former police officer in the New York Police Department. He served at Precinct 68 in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn until 2007. He is accused of a hate crime. • Swastika and hate speech attack in Borough Park neighborhood • Suspect: former police officer Meanwhile, it was learned that the business owners, institutions, and private individuals who were harmed by the man's 'price tag' are now looking into the possibility of filing a civil lawsuit against him. It seems that a jury will not be in too big a dilemma. As we reported early this morning, residents of the neighborhood discovered that an unknown person immediately sprayed dozens of swastikas with spray paint in dozens of places on Saturday night, along with vulgar graffiti that was sprayed on cars, houses, and fences. Swastikas were sprayed at the entrance to the girls' school in Babov, as well as at the Derech Chaim yeshiva and many other places in the neighborhood. In a conversation with Haredim10, before the suspect was captured, David Greenfeld, a member of the city council, said: "I'm shocked, we have a lead and the 'guards' are working in cooperation with the city police to catch the perpetrator and bring him to justice. We are close to solving the case and we will not rest until the case is closed.".