Christian relives beating
by Brooklyn Jewish patrol
A man acquitted of
attempted murder after shooting four members of a Borough Park community-watch
group in self-defense says his attackers were yelling, “Kill him, he’s a f–king
Muslim!”
“I hope you die, you son
of a bitch!’’ one of the Brooklyn men hissed at David Flores, 37, before
shooting him, Flores told The Post in his first interview since the verdict.
Flores — who is Christian
but thinks the “vigilantes’’ from the Boro Park Shomrim mistook his religion
because he was wearing a small woven cap — took a bullet to his left arm.
Flores, a Brooklyn native
who now lives in Pennsylvania, said he was simply driving from his childhood
home to a nearby bakery to buy pastries on Sept. 2, 2010, when a van stopped
short in front of him.
A “mob” of about 20
Hasidic men quickly surrounded his car and began banging on his windows and
kicking his doors — with one Shomrim member brandishing a black gun, Flores
said.
The Shomrim members
allegedly thought he had been masturbating in his car.
“They say, ‘Get him out
of the car, he’s a f–king Muslim!’ ” Flores said. “They had this look that was
just complete rage.
“They wanted my blood.”
Flores said that when he
opened the door to try to escape, he was yanked out.
“They’re punching me and
kicking me, and I’m being tossed like a rag doll,” said Flores, who had a small
.22-caliber handgun in his pocket.
“I took the safety off
[the gun] and began firing,” Flores said. “I wanted it to stop. I never wanted
to hurt anybody.”
Prosecutors argued at his
Brooklyn Supreme Court trial that the Shomrim members jumped Flores — who has a
long rap sheet — only after he pulled his gun. Flores didn’t testify.
“He came out from his car
shooting. Once he started shooting, he was jumped,” maintained Boro Park
Shomrim coordinator Jacob Daskal, who insisted nobody yelled anything at
Flores.
Flores was convicted on
an illegal-gun charge, for which he could still face up to 15 years behind
bars.
“Though he was rightly
convicted of carrying a weapon, the jury agreed that the weapon was used to
protect his life,” said his lawyer, Doug Appel.
Flores’ past arrest
record includes 20 collars for everything from burglary to assault.
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