A New York woman allegedly threw hot coffee and yelled racial slurs at a man and his 18-month-old son playing at a park in Brooklyn in what police say was a hate-fueled attack caught on video.
Hadasa Bozakkaravani, 48, of Brooklyn, was arrested and charged on Tuesday in the city’s 88th Precinct, the New York Police Department said in a news release.
Bozakkaravani was charged with hate crimes, assault, assault of a person under 11, reckless endangerment, aggravated harassment and menacing, police said. She pleaded not guilty and was released on her own recognizance, NBC News reported.
The alleged attack happened on Nov. 7. A 40-year-old man was in Edmonds Playground when a woman wearing a black and white baseball hat, black sunglasses, gray scarf, black zip-up jacket, black fanny pack, black sweatpants, and white sneakers made anti-Islamic statements, authorities said.
Hadasa Bozakkaravani allegedly threw hot coffee at a man and his toddler playing in a park. (Images from New York Police Department)
Ashish Prashar was not physically injured. He posted a video of the attack showing the senseless violence.
“You and your son, go away,” she can be heard saying in the video. She allegedly called him and his son “terrorist dogs” and said he was with Hamas, the terrorist group.
“She said that we don’t belong here and that we should leave the park,” Prashar wrote in the post on Instagram. “She went on to say that ‘your people burn babies and I hope your baby burns in an oven.””
She allegedly threw her phone and hot coffee at him and his toddler. He said he put his son down behind his legs to prevent him from getting hit by the projectiles.
“This was a hate crime,” he said. “We’re obviously very shaken up by what has happened, but we’re OK.”
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