NEW YORK — A man rammed his car at least four times into a rear entrance of the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish movement in Brooklyn on Wednesday night, according to police and video of the crash.

The driver was immediately arrested, there were no injuries, and the incident was being investigated as a hate crime, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference late Wednesday outside the building, where she appeared with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Letitia James, the New York attorney general. She said the bomb squad had swept the car and found no explosive devices.

Police offered no information on charges against the driver. A senior law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation identified him as Dan Sohail, 36, of Carteret, New Jersey.

The episode unfolded at 8:45 p.m. at the Gothic revival structure at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. Video taken at the scene shows a gray Honda sedan, with a cargo carrier on the roof and New Jersey plates, at the bottom of a driveway. The car slams into a set of wooden doors, one of which splinters and flies from its hinges. As people look on, yelling “Yo! Yo!” and “No!,” the car backs up and hits the doors again, breaking off another door, and again and again.

As onlookers cautiously approach the car, the driver, a heavyset man with a beard, wearing shorts despite the temperature of 16 degrees, gets out and starts walking up the driveway. He agitatedly explains to a bystander, “It slipped.” Two officers walk up to him and handcuff him behind his back. He does not resist. He appears to spit at the crowd as the officers lead him toward a police vehicle.

Tisch said police had stepped up security around houses of worship across New York City. “You will see an enhanced uniformed presence, specialized patrols, counterterrorism resources and bomb squad deployment where appropriate,” she said. She briefed Mamdani, who had rushed to the scene the moment he learned about the ramming, said Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor.

The leaders of Chabad sent a message to the mayor’s office Thursday morning thanking him for his presence and for his message condemning any acts of violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers.

On Thursday morning, Mamdani told local news media that the episode was being investigated as a hate crime, and that it was clear that the man had “repeatedly and intentionally crashed his car into the building.”

Rabbi Avi Winner, director of marketing for Chabad World Headquarters, said that thousands of Lubavitchers from around the world had gathered at the building Wednesday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the installation of Rebbe Menachem Schneerson as leader of the movement.

After the episode Wednesday night, young men and boys crowded around the building. A teenager who gave his name as Yechi Hamelech, 15, had been inside when he heard the crash. “And we go look, and the police said, ‘You got to get out,’” he said.

The century-old building is a home base and spiritual nexus of a movement that claims to have more than 5,000 centers in over 100 countries. Replicas have been built in many places, including one in Jerusalem and one near Tel Aviv, Israel. The headquarters is a hub of activity day and night, and there were dozens of people nearby when the car crashed.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Andy Newman and Brian Josephs/Dakota Santiago
c. 2026 The New York Times Company