pair of teenage thrill seekers have been charged with hate crimes for assaulting a Hasidic man outside a Brooklyn yeshiva, authorities said today.
The 14- and 15-year old admitted to cops that they roughed up a man as he was leaving Yeshiva Beer Hatorah shortly before 11 p.m. last night, according to officials.
Victim Moshe Guttman, 45, of Borough Park, was at a hanukkah party at the yeshiva when he stepped out to smoke a cigarette.
"I didn’t even see them coming," Guttman told the Post. "I was facing one direction and they came behind me. They just punched me with all their force."
Guttman said he thinks one of his attackers had brass knuckes or a heavy ring on his finger. Guttman said a punch to the right side of his head left his ear numb and broke his glasses.
Police picked up Brian Pena, 15, and Pete Montanez, 14, 20 minutes later after responding to an assault call at Harrison Avenue near Wallabout Street in South Williamsburg. Volunteers from two neighborhood watch groups helped cops find the attackers
Officials said the pair singled Guttman out because he was Jewish and pummeled him before taking off.
The victim suffered minor injuries, police said.
Commissioner Ray Kelly said the youths were thrill seekers who targeted others as well.
"They stated that they did it for fun," Kelly said.
The suspects were charged as juveniles with assault as a hate crime. They were awaiting arraignment in family court.
Sources said the Pena and Montanez may have been involved in a similar assault last month at the same yeshiva.
In that attack, thee thugs brutally assaulted a Jewish school teacher, taunting him with an anti-Semitic slur, sources said.
Joel Weinberger, 26, was knocked unconscious with a broken jaw in a horrific encounter as he was walking home Thanksgiving Day.
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