Knife attack appears random, not hate crime: Ramapo police

RAMAPO - The brutal stabbing of an Orthodox Jewish man outside his Trailside Place appears to have been random as police said Monday they have no discernible motive for the attack.

The unidentified man is recovering from multiple stab wounds to his body at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, Detective Lt. Chris Franklin said. The man's condition has been listed as serious but he remains stable.

The man had been walking down his driveway when he was attacked by a knife-wielding suspect, who had been arrested on Saturday, police said.

"There has been no established motive for the stabbing, and it appears to be random," Franklin said. "There are no grounds at this time to charge the incident as a hate crime."

The Thursday night attack is eerily reminiscent of a 2019 knifing and beating of a Hasidic Jewish rabbi walking to synagogue on Howard Drive in November 2019

A month later in late December, an Orange County man wielding a machete seriously injured six Orthodox Jewish men attending a Hanukkah party at a rabbi's home on Forshay Road. Joseph Neumann, 72, later died after months in a coma.

Grafton Thomas remains in a psychiatric facility after being found mentally unfit to understand the charges of murder and assault and assist in his defense. Thomas has been a police suspect in the predawn on the 30-year-old rabbi on Howard Drive. No arrests or charges have ever been made.

Arrest: Clarkstown man arrested in brutal stabbing of Orthodox Jewish Ramapo resident

In the Thursday Trailside Place attack, Ramapo police arrested Elijah Dean, 23, of New City on Saturday evening. Police charged Dean, a former Spring Valley High School football team running back, with second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The attempted murder count carries a prison sentence of 1 to 25 years.

Dean is being held on $1 million cash bail in the Rockland County Jail in New City. He faces a preliminary felony hearing on Thursday - five days after his arrest. If a Rockland grand jury returns an indictment before Thursday, the hearing is canceled and the case is transferred to County Court.

Franklin declined to detail how police investigators identified the person accused in the attack or any interviews because the prosecution is pending in court. Under New York State law, prosecutors will have to turn over the information to the defense.

Police mobilized Thursday after the victim was stabbed at 8:37 p.m. Arriving officers discovered that the man had been accosted in his driveway by an unknown suspect and stabbed multiple times about his body, including his head and neck, Capt. Daniel Hyman said in a news release on Saturday.

He said police detained and questioned a man other than Dean shortly after arriving at the scene Thursday night. Police released the man.

The investigation leading to Dean's arrest involved multiple law enforcement agencies, including Ramapo detectives assigned to the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, as well as Spring Valley police detectives, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, the Rockland District Attorney’s Office, and the Clarkstown Police Department.

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ramapo NY knife attack appears random, police said