Overview
- Prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment on two counts of third-degree criminal mischief as hate crimes accusing Dawood Faisal of twice vandalizing Bagels & Co., a kosher shop on Union Turnpike that displayed Israeli flags.
- The indictment formalizes allegations that on May 15 and May 23 Faisal knocked over metal plant stands, spilled dirt and uprooted plants while directing debris toward the storefront because it was Jewish-owned.
- Faisal was arraigned on the hate-crime indictment and ordered back to court on November 12 while he remains held without bail on separate charges connected to a May 25 crash that killed 71-year-old Cara Trager.
- The May 25 collision, for which Faisal was indicted in June on manslaughter and related counts, has not been charged as a hate crime and is being prosecuted as a distinct case.
- The indictment follows an NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigation and has raised questions from the victim’s family and local Jewish leaders about whether earlier vandalism signaled a wider threat and whether authorities could have acted sooner.