75-year-old chases down accused attacker after antisemitic attack, California cops say
A 75-year-old was attacked with a belt while walking to his California synagogue in a hate crime, police told news outlets.
Officers found the man suffering from a head laceration after a man hit him with a belt, according to a news release from the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Raphael Nissel and his wife were walking in the Los Angeles suburb when a man attacked him with a belt buckle and said an antisemitic comment, the couple told The Los Angeles Times.
“I didn’t realize what it was, but it was very heavy, very hard and very painful,” Nissel told KTLA. “But I didn’t fall down. I just was perplexed at what was going on.”
Nissel and his wife chased down the man, later identified as Jarris Jay Silagi, 44, police told NBC News.
After getting medical attention from the Beverly Hills Fire Department, Nissel went back to the synagogue to read aloud from the Torah, KTLA reported.
“My wife had to run to the house to bring me a new shirt,” Nissel told The Los Angeles Times. “I walked to the synagogue and was able to perform.”
Police said Nissel and Silagi did not know each other.
“I don’t want a guy like that to change my life, to change other people’s life, to hit me,” Nissel told KTLA. “I don’t want to give another victory.”
Silagi was arrested and booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery, hate crime, and elder abuse, police said.
The investigation remains ongoing and Silagi is being held on a $100,000 bail, police said.
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