Wikipedia talk:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2007-10-23 Crown Heights Riot

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(Lead paragraph still under review)

Event immediately precipitating the riot

At approximately 8:20 p.m. on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a station wagon with three passengers east on President Street, part of a three-car motorcade accompanying the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The procession was led by an unmarked police car with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.[2] Lifsh's vehicle fell behind. He continued through the intersection at Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue in an attempt to rejoin the group. Witnesses could not agree upon Lifsh’s speed and could did not agree whether the light that Lifsh went through was red or yellow. [8][9]He swerved to avoid hitting a car being driven north on Utica Avenue. Lifsh's vehicle struck the other car, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound stone building pillar down, hit a wall, and then injured a seven-year-old Guyanese boy named Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela Cato, also seven.[10][11]

The first two vehicles in the motorcade, unaware of the accident behind them, continued to their destination.[2] The officer in the lead car testified that when he went through the intersection, the light was green.

Lifsh, bleeding from the face and head (later receiving 18 stitches),[13][14] exited the station wagon to assist the victims, who were pinned beneath the car.[15][8] "Unidentified black men led one of the passengers away to safety,"[8] while two police officers protected the other Lubavitchers from several hundred bystanders who quickly gathered at the scene.[2] A volunteer ambulance from the Hatzolah ambulance corps then arrived at about 8:23 p.m., and their "crew was at first attending to the two Black children but stopped doing so when the first City crew arrived" that would eventually take Gavin to Kings County Hospital one mile away, arriving at 8:32 p.m.[2] Volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Angela, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the same hospital.[2][8]

Lifsh claimed to have the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort. Lifsh deliberately steered his car away from adults on the sidewalk, toward the wall, a distance of about 25 yards (22.9 m), in order to stop the car. Lifsh commented, “The car did not come to a full stop upon impact with the building, but rather slid to the left along the wall until it reached the children. [After the collision], the first thing I did was to try and lift the car” to free the two children beneath it.[15] Before ambulances arrived, Lifsh was robbed and beaten. [2][17][18] Two attending police officers, as well as a technician from the City ambulance, directed the Hatzolah driver to remove Lifsh and his passengers from the scene for their safety. [18] More than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers shouting ’Jews! Jews! Jews!’, jeered the driver of the car ... and then turned their anger on the police. [19]

Members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were still pinned under the car. Some perceived that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. Their anger was compounded due to a rumor that Lifsh was drunk at the time. A breath alcohol test administered within 70 minutes of the accident indicated that this was not the case. Other rumors that circulated after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh did not have a valid US driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue. [2][21][22]

Later on that evening, as the crowd and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks to protest the treatment of the children. At about 11:00 p.m., someone shouted, 'Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew!' A number of black youths then set off toward Kingston, a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars and heaving rocks and bottles as they went." [23]

Grand Jury

A Grand Jury composed of 10 African Americans, 8 Caucasians, and 5 Latinos was convened. It found no cause to indict Lifsh. Hynes explained that by New York law, the single act of "losing control of a car" is not criminal negligence even if death or injury resulted. Subsequently, several lawsuits attempting to compel the city to unseal the evidence presented to the Grand Jury were dismissed, including a decision by the Appellate Court.[9][25][26] Judge Theodore Jones of the State Supreme Court (Brooklyn) explained that a poll of the Grand Jury indicated over 75% of the 33 witnesses, including 12 of 16 of the bystanders in the crowd, were concerned for their safety.[25]

Lifsh waived immunity and testified before the Grand Jury.[9] About an hour after Lifsh testified before the grand jury in state Supreme Court, the grand jury voted not to indict Lifsh.[28] Subsequently, Lifsh moved to Israel, where his family lives, because his life was threatened.[29]

Conflicting Community Viewpoints

After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the Black community contended that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. Many members of the Black community maintained that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights.[11] The preferential treatment was reported to include biased actions by law enforcement and allocations of government resources amongst others. Furthermore, many members of the Black community were concerned about the expansion of Jews moving into the neighborhood, believing the latter were buying all the property.[30]

Members of the Jewish community did not share this view. Many felt that allegations of favoritism made by Blacks were unsupported by facts listed in a number of studies. It was widely felt in the Jewish community that these allegations were an attempt to mask blatant anti-Semitism committed during the riot against Jews. Proponents point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters specifically at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton made anti-Semitic statements regarding "diamond dealers"[35] and commented "it's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights." [37] In addition, a banner displayed at Gavin Cato's funeral read "Hitler did not do the job". [31]


 * "On June 11, 1992, after the Anti-Defamation League accused Sharpton of helping to incite anti-Semitism in the Crown Heights conflict, Sharpton scoffed, 'You don't even have a direct quote from me that anyone can call anti-Semitic.' Sharpton has also reminded people that he never participated in the looting and riots that followed Cato's death. In a June 29, 2003, Washington Post article, however, Sharpton took a more apologetic stance: When questioned about his past abrasive comments, he said, 'I've grown … I'm not as brash. There are ways I look at life now that I would not have when I was a younger man from the ghetto.'"[39]

Scope of the Riot

For three days following the accident, numerous African Americans and Caribbean Americans of the neighborhood, joined by non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights. Many of the non-residents were in Crown Heights that evening attending a B. B. King concert less than a mile away. As they left the hall, speakers "harangued" them regarding the death of Cato, and "encouraged the growing crowd at the scene of the accident to resort to violence." Indeed, over the course of the next three days, many of the rioters "did not even live in Crown Heights".[2] Approximately three hours after the riots began, Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, a University of Melbourne student in the United States conducting research for his doctorate, was surrounded by a group of approximately 20 young black men, was stabbed several times in the back, had his skull fractured, and died later that night. Before being taken to hospital, Rosenbaum was able to identify 16-year-old Lemrick Nelson, Jr. as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police.[8] Nelson was later charged with murder.

During the riots, Jewish people were injured, four stores were looted or burned to the ground, cars and homes were damaged. The rioters located Jewish homes by the mezuzot affixed to the front doors.[22] Rioters marched through Crown Heights carrying anti-Semitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned. Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police. Police were fired at as well as hit by bottles; police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioner’s car.[2][22]

An additional 350 police officers were added to the regular duty roster assigned to Crown Heights by Tuesday morning in an attempt to quell the rioting.[2] After significant episodes of rock and bottle throwing, Blacks marched through Crown Heights shouting, "Death to the Jews!"[2] As a result, an additional 1,200 police officers were dispatched to confront rioters on Wednesday.[41] Riots escalated to a point where a detachment of 200 police officers (wearing full riot gear) was overwhelmed and had to retreat for their safety. On Thursday, over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle unites, were dispatched to stop the attacks on people and property.[2]

By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted,[42], and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.[2] At least 129 arrests were made during the riots,[42] including 122 African Americans and seven whites.[40][43]

Impact of the riot on the 1993 mayoral race


 * This section is still under review

Healing in Crown Heights

Relations between Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights began to improve almost immediately following the rioting. A week after the riots, Hatzolah helped repair an ambulance of a Black-owned volunteer service. The following year, the Brooklyn Children's Museum held an exhibit on the contributions made by Blacks and Jews in New York. In 1992, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was active in promoting improved Black-Jewish relations. In 1993, a series of neighborhood basketball games were scheduled between the two groups, including a scrimmage held as part of the halftime entertainment of a New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76s professional basketball game. Also that year, while on the anti-crime patrol, Shemtov rushed to the aid of a black woman who had been shot on the street in Crown Heights, putting her in his car and taking her to the hospital.[64] The Crown Heights Mediation Center was established in 1998 to help resolve local differences. On August 19, 2001, a street fair was held in memory of Cato and Rosenbaum, and their relatives met and exchanged mementos of hopes of healing in Crown Heights.

Fictional portrayals in film and television


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SECOND Mediator Draft Proposal
(Mediator Note: I have reviewed all of your notes and comments.  If you believe I have overlooked any of your comments, please let me know.  I appreciate all of your involvement -- We are getting very close to the end  )

(Lead paragraph still under review)

Event immediately precipitating the riot

At approximately 8:20 p.m. on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a station wagon with three passengers east on President Street, part of a three-car motorcade accompanying the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The procession was led by an unmarked police car with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.[2] Lifsh's vehicle fell behind. He continued through the intersection at Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue in an attempt to rejoin the group. Witnesses could not agree upon Lifsh’s speed and could did not agree whether the light that Lifsh went through was red or yellow. [8][9]He swerved to avoid hitting a car being driven north on Utica Avenue. Lifsh's vehicle struck the other car, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound stone building pillar down, hit a wall, and then injured a seven-year-old Guyanese boy named Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela Cato, also seven.[8][9]

Lifsh exited the station wagon to assist the victims, who were pinned beneath the car.[13][6] "Unidentified black men led one of the passengers away to safety. [6]  A volunteer ambulance from the Hatzolah ambulance corps arrived on the scene at about 8:23 pm followed shortly by police and a City ambulance which took Gavin to Kings County Hospital, arriving at 8:32 p.m.[2] Volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Angela, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the same hospital.[2][6]

Lifsh believed he had the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort. [2] Lifsh said he deliberately steered his car away from adults on the sidewalk, toward the wall, a distance of about 25 yards (22.9 m), in order to stop the car. Lifsh later commented that the car did not come to a full stop upon impact with the building, but rather slid to the left along the wall until it reached the children. After the collision, Lifsh said that the first thing he did was to try and lift the car in order to free the two children beneath it.[14] Before ambulances arrived, Lifsh was beaten. [2][16] Two attending police officers, as well as a technician from the City ambulance, directed the Hatzolah driver to remove Lifsh and his passengers from the scene for their safety. [17] More than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers shouting ’Jews! Jews! Jews!’, jeered the driver of the car ... and then turned their anger on the police. [18]

Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were still pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. Their anger was compounded due to a rumor that Lifsh was drunk at the time. A breath alcohol test administered within 70 minutes of the accident indicated that this was not the case. Other rumors that circulated after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh did not have a valid driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue. [2][19][20]

Later on that evening, as the crowd and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks to protest the treatment of the children. At about 11:00 p.m., someone shouted, 'Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew!' A number of black youths then set off toward Kingston, a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars and heaving rocks and bottles as they went." [21]

Grand Jury section moved

Conflicting Community Viewpoints

After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the Black community believed that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. They also maintained that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights.[9] The preferential treatment was reported to include biased actions by law enforcement and allocations of government resources amongst others. Furthermore, many members of the Black community were concerned about the expansion of Jews moving into the neighborhood, believing the latter were buying all the property.[30]

Members of the Jewish community did not share this view. Many believed that allegations of favoritism made by Blacks were unsupported by facts listed in a number of studies, including one conducted specifically in response to this allegation. [29] It was widely believed in the Jewish community that these allegations were an attempt to mask blatant anti-Semitism committed against Jews during the riot. As examples, they point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters, including comments made at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton made statements regarding "diamond dealers"[33] and commented "it's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights." [34] In addition, a banner displayed at the funeral read "Hitler did not do the job". [29]

Scope of the Riot

For three days following the accident, numerous African Americans and Caribbean Americans of the neighborhood, joined by growing numbers of non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights. Indeed, over the course of the next three days, many of the rioters "did not even live in Crown Heights".[2] About three hours after the riots began, a group of approximately 20 young black men surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old University of Melbourne student in the United States conducting research for his doctorate. They stabbed him several times in the back and beat him so severely that his skull fractured. Before being taken to hospital, Rosenbaum was able to identify 16-year-old Lemrick Nelson, Jr. as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police.[6] Rosenbaum died later that night and Nelson was later charged with murder.

During the riots, Jewish people were injured, stores were looted and cars and homes were damaged. The rioters identified Jewish homes by the mezuzot affixed to the front doors.[20] Rioters marched through Crown Heights carrying anti-Semitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned. Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police. Police were fired at as well as hit by bottles; police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioner’s car.[2][20]

An additional 350 police officers were added to the regular duty roster on August 20 and were assigned to Crown Heights in an attempt to quell the rioting.[2] After episodes of rock- and bottle-throwing involving hundreds of Blacks and Jews, and after groups of Blacks marching through Crown Heights chanting “No Justice!”, “No Peace!”, and "Death to the Jews!", an additional 1,200 police officers were sent to confront rioters in Crown Heights. Riots escalated to a point where, at one point, a detachment of 200 police officers was overwhelmed and had to retreat for their safety. On August 22, over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle units, had been dispatched to stop the attacks on people and property.[2]

By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned,[40], and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.[2] At least 129 arrests were made during the riots,[40] including 122 Blacks and seven whites.[38][41] Property damage was estimated at one million dollars. [2]

Grand Jury

A Grand Jury composed of 10 African Americans, 8 Caucasians, and 5 Latinos was convened. It found no cause to indict Lifsh. Hynes explained that by New York law, the single act of "losing control of a car" is not criminal negligence even if death or injury resulted. Subsequently, several lawsuits attempting to compel the city to unseal the evidence presented to the Grand Jury were dismissed, including a decision by the Appellate Court.[7][23][24] Judge Theodore Jones of the State Supreme Court (Brooklyn) explained that a poll of the Grand Jury indicated over 75% of the 33 witnesses, including 12 of 16 of the bystanders in the crowd, were concerned for their safety.[23]

Lifsh waived immunity and testified before the Grand Jury.[9] About an hour after Lifsh testified before the grand jury in state Supreme Court, the grand jury voted not to indict Lifsh.[28] Subsequently, Lifsh moved to Israel, where his family lives, because his life was threatened.[29]

Impact of the riot on the 1993 mayoral race


 * This section is still under review

Healing in Crown Heights

Relations between Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights began to improve almost immediately following the rioting. A week after the riots, Hatzolah helped repair an ambulance of a Black-owned volunteer service. The following year, the Brooklyn Children's Museum held an exhibit on the contributions made by Blacks and Jews in New York. In 1992, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was active in promoting improved Black-Jewish relations. In 1993, a series of neighborhood basketball games were scheduled between the two groups, including a scrimmage held as part of the halftime entertainment of a New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76s professional basketball game. Also that year, while on the anti-crime patrol, Shemtov rushed to the aid of a black woman who had been shot on the street in Crown Heights, putting her in his car and taking her to the hospital.[64] The Crown Heights Mediation Center was established in 1998 to help resolve local differences. On August 19, 2001, a street fair was held in memory of Cato and Rosenbaum, and their relatives met and exchanged mementos of hopes of healing in Crown Heights.

Fictional portrayals in film and television


 * No Change

THIRD Mediator Draft Proposal
(Mediator Note: Thanks again for all of your notes and comments.  Again, if you believe I have overlooked any of your comments, please let me know.  Also, the citations may be a little bit off in terms of numbering, but we have gone through this article so many times, that the referenced articles hopefully are easily determined.  I appreciate all of your involvement -- it's so nice to see the (almost) finished product in one place.)

WP:LEAD

The Crown Heights Riot was a three-day riot in the Crown Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The community was home to approximately 180,000 people – consisting of Caribbean-Americans and West Indians (50%), African Americans (39%), and Jewish residents (11%). The riots began on August 19, 1991 and were sparked after a Guyanese boy was struck by an automobile driven by Yosef Lifsh in a motorcade for a prominent Hasidic rabbi. They riot was viewed as a progrom by the Jewish community [5] and was referred to as "one of the most serious incidents of anti-Semitism in American history" by Edward Shapiro, Professor of History Emeritus at Seton Hall University.[2]

Event immediately precipitating the riot

At approximately 8:20 p.m. on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a station wagon with three passengers east on President Street, part of a three-car motorcade accompanying the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The procession was led by an unmarked police car with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.[2] Lifsh's vehicle fell behind. He continued through the intersection at Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue in an attempt to rejoin the group. Witnesses could not agree upon Lifsh’s speed and could did not agree whether the light that Lifsh went through was yellow or red. [8][9]Lifsh’s vehicle struck a car being driven on Utica Avenue, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound stone building pillar down, hit a wall, and injured a seven-year-old Guyanese boy named Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela Cato, also seven.[8][9]

Lifsh believed he had the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort. [2] Lifsh said he deliberately steered his car away from adults on the sidewalk, toward the wall, a distance of about 25 yards (22.9 m), in order to stop the car. Lifsh later commented that the car did not come to a full stop upon impact with the building, but rather slid to the left along the wall until it reached the children.

Accounts differ as to the next sequence of events. After the collision, Lifsh said that the first thing he did was to try and lift the car in order to free the two children beneath it.[14] Ambulance attendants who arrived on the scene about three minutes after the accident said that Lifsh was being beaten and pulled out of the station wagon by three or four Black men. [2] All accounts agree that Lifsh was beaten before ambulances and police arrived.

A volunteer ambulance from the Hatzolah ambulance corps arrived on the scene at about 8:23 pm followed shortly by police and a City ambulance which took Gavin to Kings County Hospital, arriving at 8:32 p.m.[2] Volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Angela, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the same hospital.[2][6]

Two attending police officers, as well as a technician from the City ambulance, directed the Hatzolah driver to remove Lifsh from the scene for his safety, while Gavin Cato was being removed from beneath the station wagon. [17] According to the New York Times, more than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers shouting ’Jews! Jews! Jews!’, jeered the driver of the car ... and then turned their anger on the police. [18]

Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. Their anger was compounded due to a rumor at the time that Lifsh was intoxicated.. A breath alcohol test administered within 70 minutes of the accident indicated that this was not the case. Other rumors that circulated shortly after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh did not have a valid driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue. [2][19][20]

Later on that evening, as the crowd and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks to protest the treatment of the children. At about 11:00 p.m., someone shouted, 'Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew!' A number of black youths then set off toward Kingston, a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars and heaving rocks and bottles as they went." [21]

Conflicting Community Viewpoints

After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the Black community believed that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. They also maintained that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights.[9] The preferential treatment was reported to include biased actions by law enforcement and allocations of government resources amongst others. Furthermore, many members of the Black community were concerned about the expansion of Jews moving into the neighborhood, believing the latter were buying all the property.[30]

Members of the Jewish community did not share this view. Many believed that allegations of favoritism made by Blacks were not supported by facts. A number of studies disproved these allegations, including one study conducted specifically in response to this allegation. [29] It was widely believed in the Jewish community that these allegations were an attempt to mask blatant anti-Semitism committed against Jews during the riot. As examples, they point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters, including comments made at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton made statements regarding "diamond dealers"[33] and commented "it's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights." [34] In addition, a banner displayed at the funeral read "Hitler did not do the job". [29]

Scope of the Riot

About three hours after the riots began, a group of approximately 20 young black men surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old University of Melbourne student in the United States conducting research for his doctorate. They stabbed him several times in the back and beat him so severely that his skull fractured. Before being taken to hospital, Rosenbaum was able to identify 16-year-old Lemrick Nelson, Jr. as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police.[6] Rosenbaum died later that night and Nelson was later charged with murder.

For three days following the accident, numerous African Americans and Caribbean Americans of the neighborhood, joined by growing numbers of non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights. Indeed, over the course of the next three days, many of the rioters "did not even live in Crown Heights".[2]

During the riots, Jewish people were injured, stores were looted and cars and homes were damaged. The rioters identified Jewish homes by the mezuzot affixed to the front doors.[20] Rioters marched through Crown Heights carrying anti-Semitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned. Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police. Police were fired at as well as hit by bottles; police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioner’s car.[2][20]

An additional 350 police officers were added to the regular duty roster on August 20 and were assigned to Crown Heights in an attempt to quell the rioting.[2] After episodes of rock- and bottle-throwing involving hundreds of Blacks and Jews, and after groups of Blacks marching through Crown Heights chanting “No Justice!”, “No Peace!”, and "Death to the Jews!", an additional 1,200 police officers were sent to confront rioters in Crown Heights. Riots escalated to a point where, at one point, a detachment of 200 police officers was overwhelmed and had to retreat for their safety. On August 22, over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle units, had been dispatched to stop the attacks on people and property.[2]

By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned,[40], and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.[2] At least 129 arrests were made during the riots,[40] including 122 Blacks and seven whites.[38][41] Property damage was estimated at one million dollars. [2]

Grand Jury

A Grand Jury composed of 10 African Americans, 8 Caucasians, and 5 Latinos found no cause to indict Lifsh. Then District Attorney Charles J. Hynes explained that under New York law, the single act of "losing control of a car" is not criminal negligence even if death or injury resulted. Lifsh waived immunity and testified before the Grand Jury.[9] About an hour after Lifsh testified before the grand jury in state Supreme Court, the grand jury voted not to indict Lifsh.[28] Subsequently, Lifsh moved to Israel, where his family lives, because his life was threatened.[29]

Afterwards, Hynes fought unsuccessfully for the public release of the testimony that the grand jury had heard. His lawsuit was dismissed, and the judge noted that more than three-quarters of the witnesses who had been contacted refused to waive their right to privacy. The judge also expressed concern for the witnesses' safety. [7][23][24]

Impact of the riot on the 1993 mayoral race

"The repercussions of the Crown Heights riot, based on the official indifference to the plight of Jews, contributed directly to the defeat of the incumbent mayor of New York,"[54] David Dinkins. He was embattled by many political adversaries in his reelection bid, including vocal proponents of “black nationalism, back-to-Africa, economic radicalism, and racial exclusiveness”

On November 17, 1992, New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave the Director of Criminal Justice Services, Richard H.Girgenti, the authority to investigate the rioting and the Nelson trial. The Girgenti Report was compiled by over 40 lawyers and investigators, and produced a two volume, 600-page document of its findings on July 20, 1993. It was extremely critical of Police Commissioner Lee Brown. The report also embarrassed Dinkins on his handling of the riots.

Dinkins hesitated to deploy vast numbers of police to stop the rioting because he had been elected as a peacemaker. However, this strategy proved disastrous.[56] Jews criticized Dinkins for this. The first night of the riot, Dinkins, along with Police Commissioner Lee Brown, both African Americans, went to Crown Heights to dispel the false rumors about the circumstances surrounding the accident, but they had no impact on the "young blacks roaming the streets."[20] In a 16 minute speech on the Thanksgiving holiday following the riot, Dinkins denied preventing police from protecting citizens in Crown Heights.[2] Many Jews believed Dinkins failed to contain the riot and that the mayor had responsibility that he did not exercise, to the detriment of the Jewish community.[57]

Uniformed police were hostile to Dinkins. "They believed the mayor had prevented them from doing their duty during the riot, and that he had blamed them for his own failures."[2] As a result, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association strongly supported Giuliani, Dinkin's opponent, in the mayoral election of 1993.

The Crown Heights riot was an important issue raised repeatedly on the campaign trail. Rudolph Giuliani, who would become the next mayor of New York, called the Crown Heights riot a pogrom because "for three days people were beaten up, people were sent to the hospital because they were Jewish. There's no question that not enough was done about it by the city of New York".[59] Giuliani won by over 44,000 votes. Support for Dinkins by Jews, Hispanics and Puerto Ricans, Asian-Americans, uniformed police officers, and first-time voters decreased significantly from the previous election.[2]

Healing in Crown Heights

Relations between Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights began to improve almost immediately following the rioting. A week after the riots, Hatzolah helped repair an ambulance of a Black-owned volunteer service. The following year, the Brooklyn Children's Museum held an exhibit on the contributions made by Blacks and Jews in New York. In 1992, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was active in promoting improved Black-Jewish relations. In 1993, a series of neighborhood basketball games were scheduled between the two groups, including a scrimmage held as part of the halftime entertainment of a New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76s professional basketball game. Also that year, while on the anti-crime patrol, Shemtov rushed to the aid of a black woman who had been shot on the street in Crown Heights, putting her in his car and taking her to the hospital.[64] The Crown Heights Mediation Center was established in 1998 to help resolve local differences. On August 19, 2001, a street fair was held in memory of Cato and Rosenbaum, and their relatives met and exchanged mementos of hopes of healing in Crown Heights.

Fictional portrayals in film and television


 * No Change