The charges against Ehud Halevy, the 21 year old Jewish youth who made international headlines after a video of him being violently beaten by NYPD officers surfaced online were dropped today.
“I just found out from the lawyer’s office that the charges have been dropped,” Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, the director of the Crown Heights based Aliyah center for troubled youth, where the incident took place, told The Algemeiner.
Asked if Ehud had any reaction to the news Feiglin said, ”I spoke to him earlier today, he is feeling a lot better and he is very relieved that things are working in his favor.”
“We are very pleased with this just resolution,” Lawyer Norman Seigel confirmed in a phone interview with The Algemeiner, “justice was done in this matter.”
“There was no legal basis for the criminal charges against our client,” Seigel explained, “therefore we commend Charles Hynes and the Brooklyn DA’s office for doing the right thing in this matter.”
“It was a joint effort between the lawyers, our client, the Crown Heights community, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Assemblyman Eric Adams,” Seigel continued, “without everybody calling for the charges to be dropped it might not have happened.”
Speaking about his client’s reaction to the latest development, Seigel said, “He is very pleased with the results and we will go to court on Wednesday morning to officially inform the court that the charges are being dropped.”
An online petition calling for the dismissal of the charges against Halevy, which included a felony count of assault and three misdemeanors: resisting arrest, obstruction and criminal trespass, has garnered 105,730 signatories at the time of publication. Rabbi Feiglin says he hopes that this outpouring of support was instrumental in securing today’s result.
“Most importantly was the video evidence which refuted what the police said happened,” Halevy’s lawyer concluded, “Next time the police say X and the citizen says Y, perhaps people won’t rush to judgment in believing the police version of the story.”
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