New York — man Who drove his car over and over again At Chabad-Lubavitch’s world headquarters in New York City earlier this year, he pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges of intentionally damaging religious property.
Dan Suhail, 36, was previously arrested on government charges following the incident on January 28, which damaged the entrance to the holy Jewish site, but did not cause any injuries.
He appeared in federal court Monday to face the newly unsealed federal charges, wearing a yarmulke as he told a federal judge he was in the process of converting to Judaism. His lawyer, Mia Eisner-Greenberg, said Sohail denied that his actions were “intentional in the manner described by the government.”
Federal prosecutors said Sohail ordered worshipers to move out of the way before he crashed his car into the side of the building five times in a row. He later claimed that he lost control of the car and pressed the gas with his heavy shoe.
Suhail, several people close to him — including family members and Chabad rabbis — said He does not seem to have any hatred towards JewsHe confirmed that he showed interest in converting to religion.
Weeks before the incident, he had attended a social gathering at Chabad headquarters, where he was seen on video dancing with Orthodox men, according to police.
Sohail’s father He told the Daily News That his son had “mental problems,” but had a “very good friendship and relationship with the Jews.”
The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison if the damage is found to exceed $5,000.
A Chabad spokesman declined to comment on the federal charges and the cost of damage to the door.
The accident occurred on its 75th anniversary Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson He became a leader of the Lubavitch movement and caused immediate concern in the city. Schneerson died in 1994 but remains a revered figure worldwide.
There has been an almost constant police presence around Chabad-Lubavitch’s world headquarters for years.
The site was at the center of the Crown Heights riots in 1991, when black residents of the ghetto attacked after a child was killed by a car traveling in Schneerson’s motorcade. In 2014, an agitated man entered the synagogue and stabbed a rabbinic student, wounding him, before police shot him dead.