<$BlogRSDURL$>

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Hasidic teen assaulted outside his school

A 24-year-old man was arrested after a Hasidic teenager was punched outside the Skver-Toldos Orthodox Jewish School in Outremont Thursday, but police deemed the case a "simple assault" and released the accused.

The man was ordered to appear in municipal court July 9 at 9 a.m. to answer to the assault charge, Montreal police Constable Robert Mansueto said.

Police arrested the man after a 16-year-old youth was punched in the head about 5:40 p.m. on Bloomfield Ave. near Ducharme Ave., Mansueto said.

Skver-Toldos's entrance was firebombed Sept. 2, but nothing suggests Thursday's incident was anything more than a common altercation, police said.

"There is no evidence this is a hate crime," Mansueto said.

The 24-year-old told police he thought the teen was somebody else, Mansueto said.

The teen's uncle told The Gazette his nephew was shaken up, but returned to school yesterday.

Officers released the man they arrested after confirming his identity and determining he did not pose a likely threat, Mansueto explained.

Video footage from a security camera at the school shows the boy walking along the middle of the street, then being approached by someone who punches him hard enough to knock him to the ground.

Reuben Poupko, a rabbi and co-chairperson of the Jewish Community Security Co-ordination Committee, a group of several Montreal Jewish organizations, said some witnesses surrounded a car that the attacker briefly returned to after the assault.

The assailant then fled on foot, Poupko said. Police arrested him a few blocks away.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=6c2f6008-270a-4d7c-9fb2-a525b2d54cff&k=95006

Comments: Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Google
Chaptzem! Blog

-