Five members of the Williamsburg Safety Patrol Unit, a civilian neighborhood watch group, were charged on April 23 with multiple counts of gang assault, assault, unlawful imprisonment and menacing in the alleged detention and assault of an unarmed Fort Greene man who they accused of committing vandalism that had never actually occurred.
Pinchas Braver, 19; Joseph Fried, 25; Mayer Herskovic, 21; Aharon Hollander, 28; and Abraham Winkler, 39 were arrested for the December 1, 2013 incident on Flushing Avenue that left 23-year-old Taj Patterson with a torn retina, broken eye socket, lost vision in his right eye, and multiple injuries to his head and body. We simply cannot allow anyone walking on the streets of Brooklyn to be knocked to the ground, stomped and brutally beaten, said Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson, who joined Police Commissioner Bill Bratton in sending a message that acts of vigilantism are unacceptable and cannot be condoned by the NYPD.
