Community members helped the New Haven Police Department identify Paul Smith, 36, of East Haven, Conn., who was arrested and accused of shouting antisemitic slurs at three visibly Jewish people and of slapping a kippah off a victim’s head.
Victims said that the alleged attacker smelled of alcohol and that he approached the three Jews on Crown Street on June 2 and yelled, “get out of my city,” “baby killers” and “go back where you belong.” He is also said to have asked if they liked “genocide.”
The police department told JNS that Smith allegedly tried to “shove a fourth person, who was trying to intervene, threw a rolled-up newspaper at them, then pointed at the yarmulke one of the victims was wearing and slapped it off his head, causing it to fall on the ground.”
Officers viewed video footage to confirm the accounts of the victims. They charged Smith on Monday with intimidation due to bias in the second degree and disorderly conduct.
“This behavior will never be tolerated in New Haven,” stated David Zannelli, chief of the New Haven Police Department.
