A hate crime assault is being investigated after a reported anti-Semitic attack on the Upper East Side this week.
The incident took place at about 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
According to the police report, when a 37-year-old man was walking down Third Avenue–the incident address is 1142 Third Ave., between 66th and 67th streets–an unknown male suspect walking in the opposite direction spat at him and said “You dirty Jew.”
Stephen Zeffren, 37, told CBS News that he had just left Ouri’s Market, a kosher business, before being targeted. He was wearing his yarmulke at the time of the attack.
Police say Zeffren, a father of three from Teaneck, NJ, continued walking after being spat on, but then realized he had forgotten something. He turned around and began walking in the same direction as the suspect, who noticed him and asked, “are you chasing me now?” before punching him in the ear, causing a small laceration.
The suspect then fled on foot toward 68th and Third Avenue, as Zeffren was treated by EMS on scene.
The Hate Crimes Investigations Unit is investigating this incident as a possible bias incident.
“It’s very sad that the rise of antisemitism has just been so rampant now,” Zeffren told CBS News.
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Neither you nor CBS2 reports on a description Zeffren provided of the “strange” man.
What an odd comment.