{"id":357154,"date":"2026-09-25T23:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T23:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357154\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T23:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T23:02:14","slug":"attacker-who-randomly-pummeled-rabbi-after-slugging-another-stranger-freed-by-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/357154\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacker who randomly pummeled rabbi after slugging another stranger freed by judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The crazed attacker who allegedly pummeled a rabbi <\/a>in a random attack this week \u2014 minutes after he slugged another stranger pumping gas \u2014 was cut loose by a judge in both cases, prosecutors said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eric Avrutov, 31, allegedly pummeled the 66-year-old Jewish leader and placed him in a headlock on Dahill Road near Cortelyou Road in Kensington around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday \u2014 breaking the victim\u2019s shoulder and leaving him petrified, according to a criminal complaint and a member of his congregation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Avrutov was granted supervised release by Judge Edward Daniels \u2014 over prosecutors\u2019 request that he be held on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond, the Brooklyn District Attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Eric Avrutov, 31, was released on supervision in the attack on the 66-year-old rabbi Wednesday night, the DA\u2019s office said. Shomrim Brooklyn South Safety Patrol<\/p>\n

The attack was considered an unprovoked assault<\/a> on a stranger \u2014 not motivated by hate, according to cops \u2014 but it was enough to rattle the rabbi before his community began the celebration of Sukkot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than the physical injuries, he is struggling with the emotional trauma of the incident,\u201d Avrumi Herbst, a member of the rabbi\u2019s synagogue and a close personal confidant, said in an email. \u201cThis morning, he was further distressed when the DA\u2019s office notified him that the suspect was released again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel it is important to point out that the Rabbi is very resilient and accepts everything that has befallen him as the will of G-d, and he plans to officiate normally during the upcoming holiday, albeit with the physical limitations imposed on him by his shoulder injury,\u201d Herbst added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The heinous beatdown left the rabbi bruised with a fractured shoulder. Shomrim Brooklyn South Safety Patrol<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless he is concerned for his personal safety and the safety of his neighbors and the casual release of the perpetrator just added to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just minutes before the attack<\/a> on the rabbi, Avrutov allegedly slugged another man, 60, on the side of the face as he pumped gas at the Shell station around the corner on Cortelyou Road, police said.<\/p>\n

In that case, prosecutors asked for the same bail amount, but Judge Daniels again cut Avrutov loose on supervision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reasoning behind the judge\u2019s decisions in both cases was not immediately clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rabbi was released from Maimonides Medical Center, and despite his serious injuries, still plans to officiate Sukkot services. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before the back-to-back Wednesday attacks, Avrutov had five previous arrests, police said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He last found himself in cuffs when he allegedly punched a 23-year-old man and 22-year-old woman in the face at random at Brighton 12th Street and Brighton Beach Avenue around 11:30 a.m. Monday, police said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Judge Duane Frankson had no choice but to grant him supervised release because the top charge against him \u2013 misdemeanor assault \u2013 was not eligible for bail, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Avrutov was also arrested on Sunday for allegedly showing up at his grandmother\u2019s Brooklyn home in violation of an order of protection back in June, and charged with criminal contempt, prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Prosecutors asked that he be held on $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bond, but Frankson again cut him loose on supervision, according to the DA\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Avrutov\u2019s record also includes a gun possession rap from 2024, one criminal trespass arrest and another bust for violating an order of protection, police said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The crazed attacker who allegedly pummeled a rabbi in a random attack this week \u2014 minutes after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[357,98,303,57,9,11,10,8035,58],"class_list":["post-357154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-assaults","tag-brooklyn","tag-crime","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-rabbis","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}