Amy Mek
Another Muslim suspect has been arrested in connection to the brutal caught-on-camera beating of a Jewish man during a rally around Times Square nearly two years ago, prosecutors said.
Mohammed Said Othman, 28, was arrested Thursday morning and later arraigned on an indictment in connection to the May 20, 2021, attack on Joseph Borgen – who was knocked to the ground, punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed, struck with crutches, and assailed with antisemitic statements on Broadway near West 49th Street.
He was charged with first-degree gang assault and third-degree assault as a hate crime, according to the indictment.
During the arraignment, Judge Juan Merchan set bail at $75,000 cash. Prosecutors had requested a higher bail – $200,000 cash – and for Said Othman to surrender his passport. He will next appear in court on March 9.
Another man named Mohammed Othman – Said Othman’s younger brother – was previously arrested in connection to the attack, police sources said.
Waseem Awawdeh, Mahmoud Musa, and Faisal Elezzi were also charged with the crime.
At his arraignment, prosecutors said Awawdeh told jailers he had no regrets. “If I could do it again, I would do it again,” he said. “I have no problem doing it again.”
However, the Manhattan DA’s office granted Awawdeh a cushy six-month plea deal offer. That would be a slap on the wrist compared to the up to seven years he would face if convicted of the charges, including attempted assault as a hate crime, at trial.
A spokesperson for Bragg’s office previously defended the deal, claiming Awawdeh did not initiate the attack but rather was the sixth person to join and left before it was over. In addition, the spokesperson noted that Awawdeh is charged with beating the victim with his crutch but did not pepper-spray, punch or kick Borgen and has no prior convictions.
“We do this in all of our cases, a kind of individualized justice depending upon a person’s role in the charged conducts,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg told Jewish Insider last week. “We’re looking specifically at the person, the crime, and the person’s role in the crime.”
But the prosecutor added that “we take these cases extraordinarily seriously.” “That sort of hate has no place in Manhattan.”
Borgen recalled the assault in an interview with The Post a day after it happened.
I tried to get away, and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by a whole crowd of people who proceeded to kick me, punch me, beat me down,” Borgen said. “I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first, I thought I was getting urinated on, but it turned out I was getting maced and pepper-sprayed.”
“My face was on fire,” he added. “That pain was worse than the concussion and all this other stuff that followed.” He said he was forced “to second guess wearing a yarmulke in public” after the attack.
Vlad Tepes
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