A troubled man who once sought “guidance” from Jewish leaders was arrested after he repeatedly rammed his car into a Brooklyn synagogue Wednesday night and bizarrely claimed “it slipped,” according to shocking video and sources.
The gray Honda Sedan with New Jersey plates was seen in footage circulating on social media backing up and plowing into a side entrance of Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters at least four times during a holy celebration that attracted thousands of congregants to the Crown Heights area.
The NYPD confirmed that officers responded to the Eastern Parkway building for a “motor vehicle collision” at about 8:45 p.m.
Officers found the car had crashed into the doors of a sloped driveway at the synagogue, authorities said.
A gray Honda Sedan with New Jersey plates repeatedly rammed into the entrance of Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights. William C Lopez/New York Post
Video of the incident shows that the doors were knocked off their hinges.
The driver eventually exits the car and snaps as witnesses huddle nearby, the footage shows.
“I dunno, it slipped! It slipped, you f–king a–hole!” the driver hissed at a Jewish man while gesturing wildly to his car.
The bystanders identified the man as the driver to police, and he was swiftly taken into custody, according to the video.
The driver claimed to cops that he suffered some type of mechanical issue and did not make any sort of terroristic statements after he was taken into custody, sources said.
The NYPD is investigating and didn’t reveal a possible motive.
Multiple witnesses told The Post that the driver is the same man they’d seen at other Chabad locations in New Jersey in recent months.
“He was always asking people for help. They called the police on him before,” one witness said.
One source recalled seeing the man at a Garden State synagogue in November “looking for guidance.”
The driver claimed to cops that he suffered some type of mechanical issue and did not make any sort of terroristic statements after he was taken into custody. William C Lopez/New York Post
The NYPD is investigating, but has not revealed a possible motive. Daniel Yeroshalmi
A car intentionally drove into the side doors of 770 Eastern Parkway, Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters, in Crown Heights. There are no injuries. Police have the driver in custody and are investigating his motives pic.twitter.com/w9rRAnnAAo
— Rabbi Chanina Sperlin (@ChaninaSperlin) January 29, 2026
“He was very learned – he knew a lot about the Bible and Judaism. He was having a hard time with life,” they said.
He was frequently dodgy about his connections with the Jewish faith. In different instances, he claimed that his mother was Jewish, then “pretended to be Jewish” himself, another source said.
The driver even went to a yeshiva in New Jersey on Tuesday, possibly trying to arrange a conversion – but was denied, sources said.
Yaacov Behrman, the Chabad’s spokesperson, told The Post that the synagogue was packed with worshippers celebrating Yud Shevat, a holy day marking the 75th anniversary of the current rebbe’s leadership.
“There are thousands of students here and tens of thousands of visitors in the neighborhood. It’s a very, very important day on the Chabad calendar and the synagogue was very full at the time,” he said.
There were no injuries from the harrowing scene, a community leader said. Daniel Yeroshalmi
Bystanders identified the driver to police, and he was swiftly taken into custody. Daniel Yeroshalmi
NYPD Commissioner Tisch and Mayor Mamdani held a press conference about the crash Wednesday night. William C Lopez/New York Post
Behrman said that he believes the crash was “intentional” with “biased motivation.”
“This is a very serious incident – it’s very frightening. We know how dangerous it is to be Jewish today worldwide. We’re concerned about what this person intended to do, and we’re waiting for assurances from the police department that the area is safe,” said Behrman.
The synagogue was evacuated after the crash. There were no injuries, according to a community leader.
A bomb squad did a sweep at the scene and didn’t flag any explosives, sources said.
Behrman said that the mayor’s office reached out after the crash. Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be holding a press conference at the Chabad headquarters.