The man facing a litany of hate crime charges after being caught on video ramming his car into the Chabad World Headquarters in Brooklyn drove his car through a “large crowd” of Jewish congregants before slamming into the house of worship doors five times, prosecutors said Friday.
Dan Sohail committed “an unacceptable, brazen attack on the Chabad Lubavitch community” when he decided to ram the side entrance of the international headquarters on Eastern Parkway on Wednesday night, Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Adam Ghalmi said during the brief Brooklyn Criminal Court arraignment.
His hands cuffed behind him, Sohail at times shook his head from side to side as if he disagreed with the assistant district attorney and judge during the hearing, but didn’t speak.
Ghalmi noted that just 10 days before his 8:45 p.m. caught-on-video attack, Sohail was recorded inside the Chabad headquarters “interacting with and dancing with other members of the Chabad Lubavitch sect.”
On Wednesday night, Sohail was recorded patiently removing bollards and clearing away snow from the building’s side entrance before ramming his car into the door, causing more than $1,500 worth of damage.
As he smashed his car into the building, “there was a large crowd of Hasidic Jewish people participating in, and or attempting to participate in religious related conduct and…many of (them) had to move out of the way of the Honda to avoid being injured,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Sohail.
Lubavitchers across the globe had gathered at the Chabad World Headquarters to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the installation of the late Rebbe Menachem Schneerson as leader of the movement.
Responding officers took Sohail into custody without incident. After he exited the vehicle, the 36-year-old suspect was heard saying his “foot slipped” and later told police “he lost control of the car because he was wearing clunky boots,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Thursday.
Prosecutors charged Sohail with attempted assault, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and aggravated harassment — all as hate crimes, meaning, if convicted, his jail sentence will be longer. He’s also charged with disrupting a religious service.
Defense attorney Gregory Marshall said Sohail “expresses no animosity toward Jewish people.”
“As a matter of fact, he identifies as being Jewish himself,” Marshall said. “So I have no information at this time, after speaking with his mother, also speaking with him, and anything else that he has any animosity toward Jewish people.”
While Sohail didn’t have an official diagnosis, Marshall admitted that his client “has a history of some mental health issues,” which included “erratic behavior,” and requested he be seen by a psychologist.
Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Philip Tisne denied the psychological exam and ordered Sohail held on $500,000 bail. He also signed off on an order of protection barring Sohail from coming near the Chabad headquarters if he gets out on bail.
“This crime that you’re charged with under these circumstances is one that is so significant that, if you are convicted of it, there is no chance for you not to serve a prison sentence,” Tisne told Sohail. “It’s not just that you are charged with attempting to seriously injure people with an automobile, but you’re charged with doing that as a hate crime.”
Relatives on Thursday said Sohail had been considering converting to Judaism.
“It is very, very sad,” Sohail’s father, Majid Sohail, told the Daily News. “We have very good friendship, relationship with the Jews. I’ve always lived in the Jewish neighborhood. They are very cool, calm. It’s shocking.”
Dan had visited synagogues recently in an effort to convert but had been rebuffed, police sources said. When he recently visited a synagogue in South Brunswick, N.J., congregants called police because Sohail was found yelling outside the house of worship.
Police didn’t arrest Sohail then, but recommended he go to a mental health counselor, sources said.
Sohail had visited the Chabad movement’s international headquarters on Eastern Parkway at least once before — the time he was recorded dancing with congregants — sources said.
In some Jewish traditions, would-be converts are turned away three times as a test of their sincerity before being welcomed into the fold.
Dan’s mother is Catholic, relatives said. His father, who is from Pakistan, hasn’t seen his estranged son in five years. Dan had recently told his grandmother he wanted to convert to Judaism, Majid learned from relatives after the Wednesday incident made headlines.
“He was talking to his grandma,” Majid, 61, told the Daily News. “He said, ‘I’m converting into Jewish.’ … He can pick and choose whatever he wants, you know? We don’t have any issue.”
Sohail has no criminal record in New York, officials said. A resident of Carteret, N.J., he had driven into New York City three times since the beginning of December, most recently on Jan. 16, police sources said.
On Thursday, Chief Kenny described how the suspect methodically cleared obstacles from the alleyway leading to the Chabad entrance before allegedly ramming it.
“He removes several blockades from the driveway and returns back to his car,” Kenny said. “A few minutes later, he drives his Honda to the driveway itself, exits his car, removes snow from the sidewalk and drives into the alleyway and begins to strike the building.”
Video posted online by Kol Haolam News shows the Honda sedan backing up and then driving into the pair of double doors, knocking one door off its hinges.
When the driver finally emerges from the vehicle he can be heard shouting, “I f—ing slipped, you a–hole!”
The video ends as two police officers handcuff Sohail and lead him away from his vehicle. No injuries were reported.
Fearing this was a possible terror attack, everyone was ordered out of Chabad headquarters and the area was roped off so the NYPD Bomb Squad could check to see if the car had any explosives. None were found.
Mayor Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, speaking at Chabad headquarters late Wednesday, said that, out of an abundance of caution, cops would beef up security around houses of worship in the five boroughs in case of copycat attackers.
