Police Weigh Hate Crime Charges In Wake Of Antisemitic Comments At Haverstraw Meeting

County, town and state officials are looking at whether a Thiells resident’s antisemitic and threatening comments at a recent land-use board meeting could bring criminal or hate crime charges.

Town Supervisor Howard Phillips called the comments, by the speaker who identified himself as Nick Colella, “disgraceful and hateful remarks regarding the Orthodox community … we want everyone to know this will not be tolerated.”

Colella made the comments during a Planning Board public hearing addressing a request to convert a single-family residence into a neighborhood synagogue.

State Attorney General Letitia James has called the town to see if her office could assist in in the probe in any way, Phillips said.

Haverstraw Town police and the Rockland District Attorney’s Office are discussing the probe. Colella’s comments were shared in a video on Twitter. Phillips said police are seeking another video of the Nov. 10 Planning Board public hearing.

Wilbur Aldridge, regional director of the Westchester/Mid-Hudson NAACP, said it was important for law enforcement to take Colella’s statements seriously. That someone believed such vile statements were OK, Aldridge said, “demonstrates the level of freedom that people who are antisemitic and racist feel they have.”

Police Chief Peter Murphy said the police had not spoken with Colella yet on Friday.

During his three-minute turn at the mic Wednesday night, Colella made several comments about the growing Orthodox Jewish community in the Thiells-Pomona-Garnerville portion of the town.

Read more at LoHud.

{Matzav.com}