Brookyn Rabbi Handcuffed At Gunpoint By Police During Traffic Stop
(JTA) — A Brooklyn rabbi was left traumatized by an incident in which a Vermont state trooper ordered him at gunpoint to lie down after he failed to pull over his car, his son said.
Rabbi Berl Fink did not pull over for more than 4 miles when the officer, Justin Thompson, flashed his blue lights, on Aug. 8, according to a statement by the Vermont State Police. The police said Fink had been driving 83 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone and that there were no other cars in the vicinity.
Fink said he had been looking for a safe place to stop, according to The Associated Press.
When Fink did pull over, Thompson ordered him at gunpoint to lie down on the ground and handcuffed him, his wife and one of his sons said.
The police said last month that it found the officer acted according to protocol and there was no evidence of bias or profiling.
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn criticized the police findings.
“I object to these findings which exonerate this state trooper on the grounds that this was not a bias issue. Where was the sensitivity? The professionalism?” Hikind wrote on Facebook.
A message from our Publisher & CEO 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.
We’ve set a goal to raise $325,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
