NEW YORK (JTA) — Three teens are being charged with hate crimes after allegedly throwing a rock at a kippah-wearing Jewish man in New York and threatening to kill him.
The teens threw the rock at the Staten Island man a few blocks from an Orthodox synagogue in the borough on Sunday evening, then surrounded and threatened to beat and kill him, the Staten Island Advance reported. They also made derogatory references to his yarmulke, a head covering worn by observant Jewish men.
The man, a doctor, escaped unharmed and the called the police.
Among those arrested was Kareen Cook, 17, of Staten Island, who was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Advance. Police said he was carrying a knife.
The two others arrested, both 15, are being tried as juveniles; their names were not released.
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