Jewish man accused of spray-painting swastikas on own home
A local Rabbi said Andrew King is not welcome at his orthodox synagogue
A Jewish man has been accused of spray-painting swastikas on his own house after he reported the incident to police as a hate crime.
Andrew King claimed he found two swastikas on his home in Schenectady, New York, last month.
Speaking to local newspaper The Daily Gazette at the time, he said “a vein of fear went right through me” when he saw the graffiti. “All that history attached to that Nazi symbol”.
But Mr King was this week arrested and charged with falsely reporting an incident and police allege he painted the swastikas himself, CBS6Albany reports.
He is being held on a $500 (£400) bail.
During his arraignment hearing Mr King alleged he had suffered injuries from the police when he was arrested. City police spokesman Sgt Matthew Dearing told reporters: “He had no altercation with us in our interaction with him at all,” Times Union reported.
Julia Simone, the public defender representing Mr King, told the judge he has been diagnosed as schizophrenic and receives assistance from the government for a physical disability.
Local Rabbi Matt Cutler of the Congregation Gates of Heaven told Buzzfeed News that while Mr King claims to be Jewish, he had not successfully converted to the religion.
“This has brought a sense of shame to the community,” he told the news site. “We knew there was something peculiar about the vandalism,” he said, adding that Mr King was not welcome at the orthodox synagogue over problems with previous behaviour.
Comments
Share your thoughts and debate the big issues
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.
-
Newest first
-
Oldest first
-
Most liked
{{/moreThanOne}}Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.
-
Newest first
-
Oldest first
-
Most liked
{{/moreThanOne_p}}Follow comments
Vote
Report Comment
Subscribe to Independent Premium to debate the big issues
Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Already registered? Log inReport Comment
Delete Comment
About The Independent commenting
Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment.
The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates.