NEW YORK (AP) — A man was arrested after repeatedly crashing his car into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York City on Wednesday night while people were gathered for prayer at the deeply revered Hasidic Jewish site.
No one was injured when the driver struck a door of a building in the complex before reversing and striking it several more times. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that while it was too early in the investigation to speculate
on the driver's motives, the incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime.
“This is deeply alarming, especially given the deep meaning and the history of the institution to so many in New York and around the world,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called the crash “intentional."
Video of the crash that was posted online shows a car with New Jersey license plates moving forward and backward on an icy driveway leading to a building in the complex and ramming its basement-level doors.
The driver, who is wearing shorts, emerges, shouts to bystanders that “It slipped” and says something to police about trying to park.
Chabad Lubavitch spokesperson Motti Seligson said some of the doors were damaged in the crash.
The Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood receives thousands of visitors annually. Its Gothic Revival facade is very recognizable to adherents of the Chabad movement and has inspired dozens of replicas across the world.
Commonly referred to as 770, a nod to the address of the complex’s original building, the headquarters now encompasses multiple adjacent structures.
Neither bombs nor any other weapons were found in the car that hit the building, according to Tisch. She said it was also too early in the investigation to comment on the driver's mental state.
