A Brooklyn man allegedly violently shoved a wheelchair-bound neighbor onto the pavement during a shocking caught-on-video squabble that some fear could stoke racial tensions in Crown Heights.
The incident erupted March 29 along Lincoln Place between Levi Kabakov and Troy McLeod, who was walking his two muzzled German Shepherds without leashes.
McLeod, 50, told News12 that Kabakov, 30, urged him to cross to the other side of the street with his dogs.
Kabakov, who is an Orthodox Jew, allegedly rushed out to the street, telling McLeod, who is black, he did not want the German Shepherds to scare his small children, McLeod explained to News12.
But before he could, Kabakov allegedly struck McLeod twice with a wooden bench from his yard before pushing him out of his wheelchair and into a parked car, the video — posted to Reddit — showed.
The wooden bench is visible in the 67-second-long clip. Kabakov and McLeod talk over each other as a second Orthodox man tries calming the irate dad. The woman filming the video repeatedly called out for someone to call 911, and yelled at Kabakov to stop touching McLeod.
The video caught Kabakov pushing McLeod hard, and overturning his chair. McLeod’s head is seen slamming against the side of the parked vehicle.
“How can you do that to a man in a wheelchair? The children were fine,” said the woman recording, as other neighbors come to McLeod’s defense, yelling, “How dare you?” at Kabakov.
Police said Kabakov then threw a wooden block at McLeod while he was still on the ground.
“I was scared, I was trying to get back up, I was in shock and thank God someone was there,” McLeod told the station. “It felt like a vengeful vibe to me. . . There was no need for it.”
McLeod told News12 his dogs were muzzled the entire walk, and noted they’re so well-trained, they stood in place, even as he was being attacked.
McLeod told cops he sustained injuries to his hands, shoulders, and torso.
Kabakov was arrested the next day and charged with two counts each of assault, criminal possession of a weapon, aggravated menacing, and attempted assault.
He was arraigned that same day and released without bail pending a July 17 court appearance.
Kabakov did not respond to calls seeking comment. McLeod could not be reached for comment.
Crown Heights was the setting for one of the city’s ugliest periods in August 1991 after a motorcade carrying Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad Jewish religious movement, unintentionally struck and killed 7-year-old Gavin Cato, the son of Guyanese immigrants.
The boy’s death led to a mob of black teens chanting “Let’s go get a Jew” to surround and kill 29-year-old Yankel Rosenbaum, an Orthodox Jewish graduate student from Australia. Three days of rioting damaged scores of Jewish businesses and homes.
District Leader Anthony Beckford condemned the attack on McLeod, and called on members of the community “to not allow their anger about this situation manifest into hatred or resentment.”
He said he’ll be urging District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office “to prosecute this case to the fullest extent, to make a clear example that behavior like this will not be tolerated by anyone.”
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman of the Jewish Future Alliance and Rabbi Shmuel Rosenstein and Rabbi Zalman Friedman from the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council issued a joint statement, reading, “There is absolutely no justification for assaulting someone in a wheelchair — ever. The perpetrator has been arrested and charged.”
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