Man Who Attacked Brooklyn Jewish Y Chief At Nets Game Flees To Turkey
Shawn Schraeder, left; Leonard Petlakh, right.
(JTA) — A New York man who was convicted of assaulting the head of the Brooklyn Jewish Y at a basketball game in 2014 has fled the country for Turkey.
Shawn Schraeder, 27, of Queens, failed to show up Thursday for his first appointment with probation officials. A spokeswoman for the Department of Probation told the New York Daily News that the department had been informed by federal authorities that Schraeder had left the country and is believed to be living in Turkey.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest for violating his sentence — two years of probation, 80 hours of community service and anger management classes.
Schrader was convicted in September of assault, menacing and endangering the welfare of a child for punching Leonard Petlakh, the executive director of the Kings Bay Y, in the face following an exhibition game in October 2014 at the Barclays Center between the Brooklyn Nets and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv after pro-Palestinian protesters began shouting anti-Israel slogans. Petlakh was there with his two sons, ages 10 and 14.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
