Motorist charged with assault for striking CUAD protester with car at picket outside trustee's home [View all]

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/05/08/motorist-charged-with-assault-for-striking-cuad-protester-with-car-at-picket-outside-trustees-home/

Reuven Kahane, a 57-year-old man, drove a car into a crowd of protesters on Tuesday morning at a picket organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest in front of Barnard trustee Francine LeFrak’s home, a New York Police Department spokesperson told Spectator.

Police arrested three individuals at the demonstration, including Kahane and the 55-year-old female protester he struck, who sustained a leg injury and was hospitalized. She and a 63-year-old male protester with CUAD were arrested for banging on the hood of the driver’s car when it drove into the crowd, the spokesperson said.

The two protesters and Kahane remained in police custody as of 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, Kahane was charged with one count of assault with intent to cause physical injury with a weapon, a class D felony. He is reportedly related to Meir Kahane, a rabbi and Israeli right-wing extremist who was assassinated in New York City in 1990.

The 55-year-old protester, a Columbia alum, was arrested for attempted criminal mischief in the fourth degree and unlawful assembly, which are class A and class B misdemeanors, respectively. The 63-year-old protester was arrested for attempted criminal mischief in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor.