A person who bought into an argument with pro-Palestinian demonstrators earlier than hitting one along with his automobile on the Higher East Aspect of Manhattan on Tuesday has been charged with assault, in keeping with the police.
The person, Reuven Kahane, 57, was arguing with two demonstrators round 9 a.m. when he struck a 55-year-old girl along with his automobile, the police mentioned. In response, the demonstrators hit Mr. Kahane’s automobile.
Mr. Kahane was charged with second-degree assault. The demonstrator who was hit, Maryellen Novak, was handled at Weill Cornell Medical Heart for minor accidents. She was arrested and charged with prison mischief and illegal meeting. The opposite demonstrator concerned, John Rozendaal, 63, was additionally arrested and charged with prison mischief.
Mr. Kahane was arraigned Wednesday morning and launched with out bail. The Manhattan district legal professional’s workplace declined to prosecute Ms. Novak and Mr. Rozendaal, in keeping with an announcement.
Legal professionals for Mr. Kahane, Sara Shulevitz and Mindy Meyer, mentioned that “extra details will come to gentle” in the middle of the case.
“We’re assured that our shopper can be exonerated of all fees,” they mentioned.
The protesters have been a part of a gaggle of about 25 folks demonstrating exterior of 755 Park Avenue, the police mentioned, and the group was strolling away when Mr. Kahane bought into “a verbal dispute” with two of them.
A pupil group, Columbia College Apartheid Divest, disputed the police’s account, saying in a statement that Mr. Kahane drove as much as the protesters in his automobile and requested for a flier earlier than “grabbing the protester’s arm.”
As they have been leaving, the group mentioned, he “circled the block to drive into our peaceable demonstration” and struck an individual whom they recognized as one of many group’s de-escalation workforce members.
The episode is the second time in per week that members of their group have been assaulted and the fourth hospitalization, the assertion mentioned.
In a cellphone name on Wednesday, Mr. Rozendaal mentioned that he was additionally on the demonstration as a de-escalator on the request of the scholar group. He had attended different demonstrations as a protester, however on Tuesday his sole function was “conserving folks protected,” he mentioned.
Mr. Rozendaal, a musician who lives in Manhattan, declined to provide an account of what precisely led to the confrontation with Mr. Kahane or the aftermath. However he mentioned that over the course of their demonstration in entrance of a Columbia College trustee’s house, they have been approached by individuals who have been “ actually, actually offended.”
“It was a problem throughout these two hours to have compassion for everyone on the scene as a result of anger comes from worry and it doesn’t come from nowhere,” he mentioned. “But it surely additionally felt prefer it was making folks unsafe.”
Because the group was leaving the world, he mentioned, the confrontation with Mr. Kahane occurred.
Mr. Rozendaal, who was not struck, mentioned he was launched from central reserving — the place folks arrested are taken to be processed — round 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday and was advised that the Manhattan district legal professional’s workplace had “declined to prosecute” his case.
“The story is what’s occurring to the folks in Gaza and United States complicity and Columbia College’s complicity,” he mentioned. “And the opposite piece of the story is the braveness of Columbia College college students in refusing to be complicit. And I used to be there to help that.”
Susan C. Beachy contributed analysis.