The three-day Crown Heights riot began on this day when a child was accidentally struck and killed by a car in the motorcade of a prominent Hasidic rabbi. As the driver attempted to help the child, he was attacked and beaten by African-Americans. Rescue workers removed him from the scene to prevent a lynch, but some members of the community were outraged because the Jew was taken away by a private ambulance while emergency workers were still working to save injured children. The riot reignited tensions between Brooklyn’s Black and Jewish communities.
