By the time bomb squad officers finished checking the car that had slammed into the front of a Brooklyn religious landmark, investigators were already treating the episode as more than a traffic incident, even as the driver told bystanders it had all been a mistake.
Crash at a Global Jewish Nerve Center
On a recent Wednesday night in New York City, a driver repeatedly rammed a vehicle into the front doors of the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights, according to Fox News reporting. The building at 770 Eastern Parkway is a central site for the worldwide Chabad movement and a well-known Jewish institution.
Police took the driver into custody at the scene. The New York Police Department and Chabad spokesperson Motti Seligson said there were no apparent injuries, and initial damage appeared limited to some of the doors at the entrance.
The NYPD bomb squad examined the vehicle and found no explosives, Fox News reported. That cleared an immediate safety concern, but did not end the questions about why the car struck the building multiple times.
From Parking Claim to Hate Crime Investigation
Witness accounts described a driver who did not flee. According to Fox News, the person behind the wheel shouted to bystanders that “it slipped” and told officers something about attempting to park.
That explanation sits alongside a very different official description. Police told Fox News they believe the driver “intentionally and repeatedly” hit the doors of the headquarters. The NYPD has not, at least publicly, released detailed video, a full written complaint, or other specific evidence to explain how investigators reached that conclusion.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the crash was being investigated as a possible hate crime, according to the same Fox News report. The department’s Hate Crime Task Force typically reviews such cases when a victim or site is targeted because of race, religion, ethnicity, or other characteristics. Public information from the NYPD describes the unit as responsible for investigating “crimes that target individuals or groups because of who they are, or who they are perceived to be.”
According to the Fox News article, authorities had not publicly identified the driver or outlined specific charges. It was also not clear whether the driver had made any statements beyond the reported claim that the car slipped while parking.
Why Federal Civil-Rights Lawyers Are Involved
The reported response was not limited to the local level. Fox News reported that the U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.
“I have instructed our criminal prosecutors in @CivilRights to open a civil rights investigation into this violent attack,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said on X, according to the Fox News report. The Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department is responsible for enforcing federal hate crime and religious freedom statutes nationwide, as described on its site at justice.gov/crt.
With LASER SPEED, DOJ’s @aagharmeetdhillon instructed prosecutors to open a civil rights investigation. In just 2:56 minutes! 🔥🔥🔥
The car ramming attack into Chabad occurred at 8:46 PM NYC time. Less than three hours later, this DOJ Civil Rights Division acts VERY SWIFTLY on… https://t.co/dRov4nxKPF pic.twitter.com/VjoWetfUGB
— SCRIBEMOON (@SCRIBEMOON) January 29, 2026
When federal prosecutors open a civil rights investigation into a case involving a religious institution, they can examine potential violations of federal hate crime laws that protect individuals at places of worship, as well as statutes that safeguard religious property. The department’s public hate crimes overview notes that federal law covers “willful injury, intimidation or interference” with a person or property because of actual or perceived religion, among other protected traits. That description appears on the Justice Department’s hate crimes page at justice.gov/hatecrimes.
At this early stage, Fox News did not report any specific federal statute that investigators believe might have been violated in the Brooklyn crash. The Justice Department had not, as of that account, released a public charging document or a detailed statement beyond Dhillon’s post on X.
A High-Profile Target in a City on Alert
New York City officials quickly emphasized the symbolic weight of the site. According to Fox News, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the episode was “deeply alarming” and that “antisemitism has no place” in the city.
“I am at 770 Chabad World Headquarters in Crown Heights, where a man intentionally, and repeatedly, crashed his car into the building. I am relieved that no one was injured in this horrifying incident,” Mamdani wrote on X, again according to the Fox News account.
In a further statement, he added, “This is deeply alarming, especially given the deep meaning and history of the institution to so many in New York and around the world. Any threat to a Jewish institution or place of worship must be taken seriously. Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable.”
The building at 770 Eastern Parkway is both a local synagogue and an international symbol for the Chabad movement. Open sources describe it as the former home and synagogue of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson and note that it remains a site of pilgrimage and study for visitors from around the world.
Authorities have been publicly warning about risks to Jewish institutions for years. Federal statistics compiled by the Justice Department show that in the FBI’s 2022 hate crime data, about half of the reported religion-based hate crime offenses targeted Jewish people.
What Authorities Have and Have Not Said
Even with multiple agencies involved, there is relatively little publicly confirmed detail about the driver.
Fox News did not report the person’s name, age, or background. There was no information about whether the driver had any prior contact with the location, any connection to extremist views, or any mental health concerns. The article also did not state whether police had interviewed additional witnesses beyond those who heard the driver say “it slipped.”
There is a similar gap around the vehicle itself. Aside from the bomb squad check that reportedly found no explosives, Fox News did not describe whether investigators recovered written materials, electronic devices, or other potential evidence from inside the car.
In New York state, hate crime charges are governed by section 485.05 of the Penal Law, which provides that certain underlying offenses may carry enhanced penalties when motivated by bias. The text of that statute is available through the New York State Senate’s legislative site at nysenate.gov. At the time of the Fox News reporting, it was not yet clear which, if any, of those provisions prosecutors might apply.
Local and federal agencies have also not publicly reconciled the two basic narratives that emerged in the first hours. On one side is the working theory among law enforcement that the driver intentionally targeted the building and did so more than once. On the other is the claim heard by witnesses that the collision was the result of a parking attempt that went wrong.
Without video or a fuller investigative record released to the public, outside observers are left with only those competing descriptions, the visible damage to the doors, and the fact that a nationally known Jewish institution briefly became the focus of a bomb squad and federal civil-rights lawyers.
Mayor Mamdani said on X that he would “keep New Yorkers updated as we learn more about the incident.” According to the Fox News report, the key questions about motive, charging decisions, and the exact sequence of events remain unanswered.
