Eric Avrutov

Introduction

Eric Avrutov is a 31-year-old Brooklyn man who was arrested and charged after an unprovoked late-night attack on a 66-year-old Hasidic rabbi outside the rabbi’s home in Borough Park on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. According to the New York Post and the Boro Park Shomrim volunteer patrol, Avrutov cornered the religious leader without warning on Dahill Road near Cortelyou Road in Kensington around 9:20 p.m. and beat him for roughly twenty seconds before officers arrived and took him into custody. The alleged attack came minutes after Avrutov, who has five prior arrests, allegedly punched a complete stranger who was pumping gas around the corner.

Background Information

Public records of Avrutov’s life before the September 2026 arrest are limited to his criminal history as described by police and prosecutors. The New York Post, citing the NYPD, reported that he had five prior arrests. Those included an arrest two days before the rabbi attack, on Sunday, September 20, 2026, after he allegedly showed up at his grandmother’s Brooklyn home in violation of an order of protection issued in June; he was charged with criminal contempt in that case. Earlier that same Sunday morning, he had allegedly punched a 23-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman in the face at random at Brighton 12th Street and Brighton Beach Avenue. His record also includes a 2024 gun-possession arrest, one criminal trespass arrest and another bust for violating an order of protection.

After the Brighton Beach punches, Avrutov was released despite prosecutors asking that he be held. According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Judge Duane Frankson granted him supervised release because the top charge in that case, misdemeanor assault, was not eligible for bail; prosecutors had requested $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bond, but Frankson again released him on supervision.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from the NYPD, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and video released by the Boro Park Shomrim patrol, which reported substantiating them. They were never admitted by Avrutov and, as of the latest reporting, had not been adjudicated in court; his arraignments were still pending. Avrutov has not publicly commented on the accusations.

According to police and surveillance video released by the Boro Park Shomrim, Avrutov allegedly approached the 66-year-old rabbi — a well-known and respected Hasidic leader of a local shul whom Avrutov did not appear to know — in front of 375 Dahill Road at about 9:20 p.m. on September 23, 2026, and struck him repeatedly in the face and body with a closed fist in an attack that lasted about twenty seconds. VINnews reported that the rabbi suffered a bloody face and a fractured shoulder.

Minutes earlier, at around the corner at the Shell station on Cortelyou Road, Avrutov allegedly slugged another stranger, a 60-year-old man, in the side of the face as he pumped gas. Officers from the NYPD’s 66th Precinct Q-Team, Officers Baptiste and Hua, quickly responded to the rabbi attack and handcuffed Avrutov at the scene; the arrest was captured on video and shared by the Shomrim patrol.

Avrutov was charged in connection with the rabbi attack with assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment, and with assault and harassment in the gas-station attack; VINnews reported the charges as two counts of assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment. Police said the rabbi attack was not being treated as a hate crime and appeared to be random.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The attack and the swift arrest drew wide attention in New York and beyond. The Boro Park Shomrim patrol’s video of the assault and arrest circulated broadly, and the story was picked up by the New York Post, VINnews, CBS New York and the New York Daily News. The victim’s wife told CBS New York that her husband had been left badly bruised and traumatized, saying the attack was caught on the surveillance camera outside their home and that “this [assailant], he belongs behind bars”.

The case landed amid a string of antisemitic incidents in Brooklyn that week and drew political reaction, even though police said this attack was not a hate crime. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the attacks on two Jewish New Yorkers in Crown Heights and Boro Park that night “horrifying and reprehensible” and thanked the NYPD for the swift arrests. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, reacting to the night’s two attacks, wrote that he was appalled by the “horrific antisemitic acts” and that Brooklyn “must be safe for all”.

The release decisions in Avrutov’s earlier cases became a flashpoint in coverage of the attack. The New York Post’s account of the supervised-release rulings by Judge Frankson, over prosecutors’ bail requests, fed broader public frustration about repeat offenders being released between arrests.

Current Status

As of the evening of September 24, 2026, Avrutov remained in custody awaiting arraignment on the new charges; the New York Post reported that his arraignments on both sets of cases were pending Thursday evening. The rabbi was treated at Maimonides Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition. Police said the attack was not being investigated as a hate crime at that time, while VINnews reported that additional charges, including hate-crime charges, could still be added as the investigation continues.

Impact on Their Career/Life

No profession or occupation for Avrutov was identified in the available reporting. The immediate impact on his life is criminal: he faces assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment charges in the rabbi attack and assault and harassment charges in the gas-station attack, with arraignments pending at the time of the latest reports. The September 2026 arrest added to a record that already included five prior arrests — among them assault, criminal contempt, gun possession and criminal trespass — and followed the supervised releases that had kept him out of custody after earlier alleged attacks days before. Beyond the criminal case, the widespread circulation of the Shomrim arrest video and coverage in multiple outlets made his name and face publicly associated with the attack.

Sources

• New York Post, “Maniac pummels rabbi in unprovoked NYC attack – minutes after slugging stranger pumping gas: cops”, September 24, 2026. source
• VINnews, “Borough Park Rabbi Beaten in Unprovoked Attack; Brighton Beach Man Arrested”, September 24, 2026. source
• CBS New York, “Video shows Brooklyn rabbi attacked and bloodied on steps of his home”, September 24, 2026. source
• New York Daily News, “Man with knife, yelling ‘Heil Hitler!’ chases Jewish student in Brooklyn, charged with hate crime: NYPD”, September 24, 2026. source