NEW YORK (AP) — A man who repeatedly drove his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City earlier this year pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges of intentionally damaging religious property.
Dan Sohail, 36, was previously arrested on hate crime charges following the Jan. 28 incident, which damaged an entrance to the revered Jewish site but did not cause any injuries. The new federal case comes on top of multiple state-level hate crime charges, including attempted assault.
He entered his federal not guilty plea Monday through lawyer Mia Eisner-Grynberg, who said Sohail’s actions had not been “intentional in the manner described by the government.”
He is in the process of converting to Judaism and had visited the Chabad Lubavitch site before, she said. Sohail, who wore a yarmulke in court, didn’t speak except for answering standard yes-or-no questions about aspects of the proceeding.
In a court complaint, federal authorities said Sohail deliberately rammed the side of the building with his car five consecutive times after clearing away stanchions and urging people to move out of the way. He then told police he had lost control of the vehicle and pressed on the gas with his heavy boots, according to the complaint.
From Washington, the Department of Justice’s civil rights division chief, Harmeet Dhillon, highlighted the case in a social media post that deplored “attacks on houses of worship.”
Several people close to Sohail — including family members and Chabad rabbis — have said he did not seem to harbor any hatred toward Jews but suffered from mental health issues. Sohail’s attorney said he was living with his mother in New Jersey, while working two jobs as a generator technician and a fertilizer technician.
Sohail’s father told The Daily News that his son suffered from “mental problems” but had “a very good friendship, relationship” with the Jewish community. Weeks before the incident, he had attended a social gathering at the Chabad headquarters, where he was seen on video dancing with Orthodox men, according to police.
At Sohail’s arraignment on Monday, prosecutor Eric Silverberg acknowledged “very significant mental health concerns” about the man but said that his behavior was dangerous and that he should be detained.
He will be held in a Brooklyn federal jail ahead of a bail hearing Wednesday. Sohail’s attorney said he would rather have returned to Rikers Island, the city jail where he’s been held since the crash, as he was eager to be settled back in for the start of Jewish holiday Purim at sunset Monday.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison if the damage is found to have exceeded $5,000.
A spokesperson for Chabad declined to comment on the federal case and the cost of damage to the door.
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office declined Monday to discuss the future of the state case, saying only that it’s ongoing. Sohail has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
The crash occurred on the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson becoming the leader of the Lubavitch movement and prompted immediate concern in the city. Schneerson died in 1994 but remains a revered figure globally.
There has been a near-constant police presence around the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters for years.
The site was at the epicenter of the Crown Heights riots in 1991, when Black residents of the neighborhood attacked Jews after a child was killed by a car traveling in Schneerson’s motorcade. In 2014, a disturbed man entered the synagogue and stabbed a rabbinical student, wounding him, before being shot dead by police.
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This story has been corrected to attribute a comment about Sohail’s religious affiliation to his attorney, not to Sohail himself.
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Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz contributed.