www.nydailynews.com Open in urlscan Pro
192.0.66.144  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET https://www.nydailynews.com/

<form method="get" action="https://www.nydailynews.com/" target="_top" class="search-form i-amphtml-form" novalidate="">
  <input name="s" type="search" placeholder="Search" aria-label="Search" class="search">
  <input name="orderby" type="hidden" value="date">
  <input name="order" type="hidden" value="desc">
</form>

Text Content

Close the sidebar
 * Subscriber Services
 * Daily E-Edition
 * Evening E-Edition
 * News
   * Crime and Public Safety
   * Politics
   * National News
   * World News
   * Photos and Videos
   * Espanol
 * Local News
   * New York News
   * Manhattan
   * Bronx
   * Brooklyn
   * Queens
   * NYC Crime
   * Education
   * New York Politics
 * Black History Month
 * Sports
   * Sports
   * Yankees
   * Mets
   * Giants
   * Jets
   * Knicks
   * Nets
   * Liberty
   * Rangers
   * Islanders
   * Baseball
   * Basketball
   * Football
   * Hockey
   * Soccer
 * Obituaries
   * Obituaries
   * News Obituaries
   * Place an Obituary
 * Opinion
   * Opinion
   * Editorial Cartoons
 * SNYDE
 * Viva
 * Things To Do
   * Things To Do
   * Best Reviews
   * Fitness
   * Restaurants, Food and Drink
   * Fun and Games
   * Horoscopes
 * Advertise
   * Advertise with Us
   * Classifieds
   * Public Notices
 * Paid Partner Content
   * Paid Partner Content
   * Advertising by Ascend
   * Paid Content by Brandpoint
 * About Us
   * Help Center
   * Contact Us
   * Automotive
   * Photo requests, reprints
   * Archives
   * TAG Disclosure
 * Contests

Close the sidebar

New York Daily News
☰ Menu


SIGHT OF YARMULKE SET OFF UNHINGED ANTISEMITIC ATTACKER, NYC VICTIM TELLS NEWS

 * Roni Jacobson and Elizabeth Keogh
 * PUBLISHED: February 19, 2024 at 7:23 p.m. | UPDATED: February 19, 2024 at
   8:06 p.m.
 * Categories: Crime and Public Safety, Latest Headlines, Local News, News



The victim needed 10 staples to his head and suffered extensive bruising on his
body and torso.

A Jewish man who was bashed in the head with a metal bat by a stranger who
called him a “dirty Jew” tells the Daily News that the hate-filled attack began
when his assailant spotted him wearing a yarmulke.

The 25-year-old victim, a driving instructor, was bringing a student driver to a
road test on Grandview Ave. near Netherland Ave. in Mariners Harbor on Feb. 12
when the attacker — identified by cops as Obadiah Lashley — spotted him around
2:30 p.m., he recalled.

The instructor, who didn’t want his name published, was standing on the sidewalk
waiting for the test to end when Lashley, 29, approached him and pointed at his
yarmulke.



“He shouted, ‘How do you know you are Jewish?’” the victim said. “I was stunned
and taken aback by that. I didn’t know what to say to that.”

Lashley then lunged at the man with his arms outstretched.

“I whacked his hands out of my airspace,” the victim said. “I started yelling
and screaming to get him to back off.”




He looked back up and saw Lashley was holding a metal pipe that the victim
likened to a small baseball bat.

“Before I knew it, he knocked me in the ribs with it and I fell over,” he said.
“When I started screaming, he called me a ‘dirty Jew.’”


Obtained by Daily News
A photo shows bruising on the victim’s torso resulting from the vicious Feb. 12
attack.

Lashley bashed the man in the head up to 10 times, with the victim believing he
was aiming for his yarmulke.



“There were people there [and] no one knew how to even respond,” the driving
instructor said. “At that point, the guy fled the scene.”

As the man bled profusely in the street, stunned bystanders called 911.

“If no one was there, I probably would have died,” he reflected.



Medics took the man to Staten Island University Hospital, where he received 10
staples to his head.

“I am still bruised up,” he said a week after the attack. “Under my [yarmulke]
is where he knocked me really hard. It’s a miracle the CT scan turned up clean.”

The victim is still experiencing headaches as a result of the blows.



Police caught up to Lashley two days after the attack and charged him
with assault as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon, aggravated
harassment, menacing and assault.

He lives about half a mile from where cops say he attacked the man.

The incident came amid an alarming spike in antisemitism as Israel’s war on Gaza
continues.



Despite Lashley’s hateful remarks, the victim believes the unhinged man could
have targeted anyone.

“He could have done it to anyone,” he said. “He could have found something else
to say to someone else.

“I don’t think I’ve noticed any antisemitism in my personal life, but it’s
definitely out there,” he added.



Following an arraignment in Staten Island Criminal Court, Lashley was held on a
$50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond, which he did not post. He’s being held at a
Rikers Island jail pending his next court appearance.


Ad



SHARE THIS:




View more on New York Daily News


 * Subscriber Terms and Conditions
 * Cookie Policy
 * Cookie Preferences
 * California Notice at Collection
 * CA Notice of Financial Incentive
 * Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information