Hate crime charges for Brooklyn stabbing suspect. Video shows violent confrontation in Crown Heights.
NEW YORK - A Jewish man was slashed early Saturday in Brooklyn in what police are calling a hate crime assault.
Police say the suspect, 22-year-old Vincent Sumpter of Brownsville, yelled "free Palestine" before attacking the victim, a 33-year-old man from Israel.
Surveillance video shows the suspect lunge at a group of men with knew, slashing one of them. It happened just after 2 a.m. Saturday on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights.
Witness describes what led up to slashing
The victim's friend told CBS New York they had just finished a Friday night Shabbat meal at the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters when the suspect crossed the street and started yelling at them.
"The guy started to say, 'Free Palestine,' and stuff like that... Two of my friends came a little bit closer and told him to go away," said the victim's friend, who did not want to be identified. "And after a couple of minutes, the guy said, like, 'You wanna die, what's going on?'... We said nobody wants to die, go away, we're going to call the police... It was like a second - took a knife, opened it like that, and stabbed him by the stomach."
The witness said people in the community then chased down the suspect and detained him until police arrived. He was charged with hate crime assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
The victim was rushed to a hospital in stable condition.
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
