A Jewish New Yorker who was stabbed in a brazen antisemitic attack in Brooklyn said Tuesday he’s glad cops have taken the alleged hateful goon off the streets.
“I’m thankful for the hard work and communication of the NYPD,” Elias Rosner told The Post, one day after cops nabbed 23-year-old Armani Charles and charged him with the Dec. 16 hate crime attack in Crown Heights.
“I’m glad that they got him off the street and he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Elias Rosner, 53, was leaving synagogue in Crown Heights on Dec. 16 when he was stabbed in an antisemitic attack. Obtained by the NY PostRosner, 35, a member of the Lubavitch Hasidic community, said last week that he had just left a synagogue when he spotted the assailant walking down the street spewing hateful threats.
“I’m going to kill Jewish people, I’m going to kill a Jew today, I don’t give a f–k,” Rosner recalled the creep saying. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if the Holocaust had happened.”
Armani Charles, 23, of Brooklyn was slapped with hate-crime charges after allegedly attacking Elias Rosner, 35.
Rosner said the maniac picked him out of the crowd and targeted him because he “was the one guy that has the bravery to look him in the eye.”
Police on Monday arrested Armani Charles, 23, in the antisemitic stabbing attack on Elias Rosner on Dec. 16.
He said he has martial arts training and was able to fend off most of the attack after the fiend pulled a knife.
But he still suffered a deep wound to the chest that came within centimeters of his heart.
The suspect remained on the loose until Monday, when he turned himself in.
How The Post covered the shocking antisemitic attack on Elias Rosner in Crown Heights on Dec. 16. rfarainoCharles was charged with attempted assault, assault, aggravated harassment and menacing, all as a hate crime, police said.
He has no prior arrests and no history of mental health issues, according to sources and his defense attorney.
Charles was ordered held behind bars on $50,000 cash bail during his arraignment at Brooklyn Criminal Court Tuesday evening.
The alleged antisemite appeared wearing a black puffer jacket with a cream hoodie underneath and a pair of black track pants. During the arraignment, he showed little to no emotion and did not address the court.
His defense attorney, John Signoriello, denied all charges against Charles and argued that Rosner’s account of the attack, as he “read in some news reports,” may not be accurate.
“Here he is in the interviews, he is talking about how he’s a trained martial artist, and how he, you know, believes in standing up to bullies,” Signoriello said in court.
“That to me, that is consistent with him believing he had heard something and then pursuing that individual. You know, where that individual may have acted in reasonable belief that he was defending himself when he committed any acts against [the victim],” he added.
The judge granted a full order of protection for Rosner at the request of the district attorney’s office.
— Additional reporting by Joe Marino
