A Middlesex County man was charged with multiple hate crime-related offenses after he was accused of ramming his car into a Brooklyn synagogue multiple times on Wednesday night.
Officers from the NYPD assigned to provide security and crowd control at the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish movement headquarters in Crown Heights saw the man, identified Thursday as Dan Sohail, 36, of Carteret, hit the entrance of the building with his car around 8:45 p.m., NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said during a press conference.
He then reversed his car and struck the building four more times before the officers stopped him and arrested him without incident, Kenny said.
Nobody was injured during the incident, investigators said.
Sohail is facing multiple hate crime charges, including attempted assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, authorities said.
He has no criminal history in New York City, but it was unclear if he had ever committed any crimes in New Jersey, Kenny said.
Kenny told reporters that Sohail had recently connected with the Lubavitch community and that earlier this month he attended a gathering at the same location he allegedly attacked Wednesday night.
Surveillance footage shows him parking the car Wednesday night a few blocks from the synagogue, walking to the building’s alleyway, removing several blockades from the driveway and returning to his Honda Accord, officials said.
A few minutes later, he drove his car to the driveway, got out of the car, removed snow from the sidewalk and drove into the alleyway where he began to strike the building, Kenny said.
When removed from his car, Sohail told police his foot slipped, authorities said. He later told detectives he lost control because he was wearing clunky boots.
Acting New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said on her X page that while there were no specific threats to any New Jersey synagogues, there would be increased police presences around “sensitive places.”