Charges submitted against police officer who damaged with graffiti
Boro Park: former officer who was arrested after spraying graffiti on Saturday night, will be prosecuted; charged with 39 counts and is expected to 4 years in prison
- Yoel Bittleman, Behadrey Haredim
- כ"ט אייר התשע"ד
Graffiti in Boro Park. Photo: Avlik
Former police officer who shocked the police and haredi community in Boro Park last month, when on Saturday night he painted graffiti on several haredi locations, and since the case had to be hospitalized in a mental hospital, will be prosecuted, as announced last Tuesday by P. Thompson, DA of Kings County.
The former officer will be arraigned on 39 counts related to hate crimes, committing a crime, and painting anti-Semitic graffiti on a nationalist background.
"Hate crimes as crimes committed by the former officer, are offensive and should not happen in a civilized society and especially in Brooklyn where a diverse population resides, here we demand tolerance for all," said DA Thompson.
The former police officer, Michael Steven, 36 years old, who shocked the haredi community in Boro Park when about a month ago he arrived immediately after Shabbat at the girls' school Bnos Tzion of Bobov Hasidim, holding red spray with which he wrote anti-Semitic graffiti against Jews, then continued to a hall in the center of the neighborhood and to a haredi-owned car on which he wrote graffiti.
Last week's hearing was held in Brooklyn court without the physical presence of the police officer who was hospitalized since the incident at Bellevue Hospital in the psychiatric ward. The hearing was done through a tele-video from the hospital where the former policeman is hospitalized. In addition, the judge ruled bail of 75 thousand dollars.
The trial was set for May 30, 2014. Activists in Boro Park have expressed satisfaction with the decision, as the attorney for the former police officer and the family of the policeman claimed that he suffers from mental health problems and what he did is the result of the illness.
The former officer will be arraigned on 39 counts related to hate crimes, committing a crime, and painting anti-Semitic graffiti on a nationalist background.
"Hate crimes as crimes committed by the former officer, are offensive and should not happen in a civilized society and especially in Brooklyn where a diverse population resides, here we demand tolerance for all," said DA Thompson.
The former police officer, Michael Steven, 36 years old, who shocked the haredi community in Boro Park when about a month ago he arrived immediately after Shabbat at the girls' school Bnos Tzion of Bobov Hasidim, holding red spray with which he wrote anti-Semitic graffiti against Jews, then continued to a hall in the center of the neighborhood and to a haredi-owned car on which he wrote graffiti.
Last week's hearing was held in Brooklyn court without the physical presence of the police officer who was hospitalized since the incident at Bellevue Hospital in the psychiatric ward. The hearing was done through a tele-video from the hospital where the former policeman is hospitalized. In addition, the judge ruled bail of 75 thousand dollars.
The trial was set for May 30, 2014. Activists in Boro Park have expressed satisfaction with the decision, as the attorney for the former police officer and the family of the policeman claimed that he suffers from mental health problems and what he did is the result of the illness.
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