Lyft Driver Attacks DC Rabbi in Apparent Hate Crime

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(JNS) — A Lyft driver kicked a Chabad rabbi out of his car in Washington, D.C. and attacked him on Sunday, sending the latter to an urgent care facilities with cuts on his face.

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Menachem Shemtov, 29, director of Chabad Georgetown and the son and grandson of prominent Chabad rabbis in the nation’s capital, told the Washington Post that he asked the driver to lower the music in the car. The driver—who looked much younger than the photo on the Lyft app suggested—turned the music off.

“He made a passive-aggressive comment about how I should book a quiet car next time,” Shemtov told the Post. “Then 20 seconds later, he said, ‘Get out of my car.’” Pressed for a reason, the man said, “I don’t like your energy. Your energy is kind of offending me.”

“He was just saying ridiculous stuff as an excuse or reason to get me out of the vehicle,” Shemtov told the Washington Jewish Week. “He slashed me with his keys about an inch below my eyeball.”

“Videos of the incident, taken by both Shemtov and witnesses, show the driver punching and hitting the rabbi with a set of keys,” the Post reported. “The attacker fled the scene, according to a police report, which described his vehicle as a red Toyota sedan bearing the Maryland license plate 3FR1602.”

The Post added that video footage showed the driver following Shemtov out of the car “and yelling at him for slamming the car door. He then punched Shemtov in the face.”

“When the rabbi moved to take pictures of the car, the driver followed him and slapped him repeatedly with his keys, leaving cuts across Shemtov’s face,” the paper reported. It quoted the rabbi saying he didn’t fight back, and “This is the most aggressive thing to happen to me.”

The police report “said the incident was not being investigated as a hate crime,” the paper added. Shemtov told the Post, “I don’t know what other energy he could be referring to. … I don’t know what to attribute to me other than who I am.” (Lyft didn’t respond immediately to a query from JNS.)


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It's getting worse every day
It's getting worse every day
3 months ago

It’s amazing that after the Trump presidency anti-Semitism jumped more than a thousand percent world wide and ther are still people out here supporting Biden and his jew hating Administration disgusting, such traitors Among Us.

Reeducation camp director
Reeducation camp director
3 months ago

I agree with Chris Wray. WHITE supremacy is completely out of control and something must be done about it quickly.

Aguttenshabbos
Aguttenshabbos
3 months ago

Oh lovely city of Washington DC. Run and CONTROLED by a bunch of blacks and white yuppy liberals. When the thugs are stealing FBI vehicles and carjacking secret service agents, you know it’s out of control.

Nachum
Nachum
3 months ago

This 29 year old Chabad Rabbi should learn self defense combative techniques.

Democrats love criminals especially black ones.
Democrats love criminals especially black ones.
3 months ago

Just a another day in a democratic party run ****hole city.

Shtarker
Shtarker
3 months ago

The actual Lyft driver/attacker has not been found. And DC Police NOT investigating as a “hate crime”! Apparently another Lyft driver, who is not fired, lent the attacker his car. Reb Shemtov needs to sue Lyft and DC Police ASAP! Any criminal lawyers out there?
See-
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.timesofisrael.com/lyft-lets-go-of-driver-for-alleged-attack-on-dc-rabbi-police-not-probing-as-hate-crime/amp/

Judith
Judith
3 months ago

Uber does better background checking than Lyft . It’s a safer choice

Maven
Maven
3 months ago

Another publicity stunt by Chabad? Why the emphasis on “Chabad Rabbi?”