New York City Police Department officers arrested Mohamed Barssoun, 26, and charged him with assault and harassment on Saturday morning, the NYPD told JNS.
The department did not confirm if the attack was being probed as a hate crime.
Barssoun allegedly attacked an Orthodox Jewish man, who was walking to synagogue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Williamsburg Shomrim stated on Sunday. It called the attack “vicious.”
Shomrim said that its Shabbat patrol members and other community members “helped subdue the attacker.”
The incident occurred at about 8:40 a.m. near Heyward Street and Bedford Avenue, according to Williamsburg News.
Surveillance footage that circulated appeared to show a man, reportedly Barssoun, spilling an unidentified substance on a visibly Chassidic man before punching him. The victim seems to fight the attacker for several moments before bystanders intervene.
The incident came five days after four school buses serving Jewish schools in Williamsburg were vandalized with Nazi swastikas and antisemitic graffiti.
The NYPD told JNS on Nov. 2 that its hate crimes task force was investigating the vandalism, which occurred near Bedford Avenue and Williamsburg Street West.
