NEW YORK — The Brooklyn district attorney’s office on Wednesday indicted a suspect for allegedly beating a Jewish man on a New York City subway in an antisemitic attack.

Neil Hurlock, 20, a Brooklyn resident, was charged with assault, menacing, robbery and aggravated harassment —- all as hate crimes —- as well as other charges.

On the morning of March 2, Hurlock, wearing a black face mask, followed his Jewish victim onto a train at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Hurlock allegedly punched the victim in the face twice, picked the victim up while striking him, threw the victim onto subway seats, and punched him in the face several more times.

Hurlock allegedly called the victim a “Fucking Jew” during the attack.

The victim was reading a religious text and identifiable as Jewish due to his clothing, including a kippah, the district attorney’s office said.

The attacker allegedly removed the kippah from the victim’s head before fleeing the scene.

During the attack, the defendant’s phone fell out of his pocket and was picked up by the victim, according to the statement. The victim called police and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for pain, bruising and swelling on his head and cuts on his hands.

The police executed a search warrant for the attacker’s phone, obtained its number, and arrested Hurlock three days later after an investigation.

Hurlock was subsequently released and is set to appear in court in June.

“This defendant is accused of brutally assaulting a man in an unprovoked and senseless act of anti-Semitic hate. The impact of crimes like this radiates through entire communities and we will seek strong accountability because we have no tolerance for hate fueled violence in Brooklyn,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez says in a statement.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined in New York City, according to police data. In 2025, Jews were targeted in 330 incidents, or 57% of all hate crimes reported to police, despite making up around 10% of the city’s population.

Under New York law, hate crime enhancements that allow for harsher penalties are added to an underlying offense if prosecutors can prove the perpetrator was motivated by the victim’s identity. The crimes are viewed as more severe because they target and impact an entire group, not just the individual. Convictions are rare because proving intent is a high legal bar.

The New York City Council is pushing reforms meant to combat antisemitism in the city.

Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:

Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;

Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and

Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

1 Trump: No deal needed to end the war, Iran won’t be able to obtain a nuke ‘for years’

2 Girl, 11, critically hurt by Iranian cluster bomb as repeated salvos target center

3 AnalysisIran’s regime remains defiant despite absorbing massive blows from Israel and the US

4 US academic’s tirade calling Jewish professor ‘colonizer’ found to be antisemitic harassment

5 Lapid: Netanyahu incapable of reaching victory, is dismantling Israel from within

6 As US weighs putting troops in Iran, realities on ground keep Israeli boots closer to home

7 UAE said pushing for military op to reopen Strait of Hormuz, is willing to take part

8 Funerals held for 3 of the 4 soldiers killed fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

antisemitism in the US

© The Times of Israel