Police have charged a woman for allegedly vandalizing the Manhattan district office of New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat last month.
Espaillat’s office in Washington Heights was splattered with red paint by two people, in an action similar to other recent incidents of anti-Israel vandalism. The two vandals also used hammers to smash the office’s windows, which displays fliers of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The incident took place in the predawn hours of Oct. 8, the day after the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel and less than two weeks after the office had been hit with anti-Israel graffiti.
Security footage from the Oct. 8 incident showed two masked individuals carrying out the vandalism. The NYPD told the New York Jewish Week that police were still seeking the second individual.
The suspect who was arrested was identified as Brittany Hale, 28, from Manhattan. Hale was charged with criminal mischief in the 3rd degree, a felony, along with two misdemeanors – making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments. Court records showed that Hale pleaded not guilty and has been released on bail. Her lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force had investigated the incident, but there were no hate crimes charges in the arrest report. Espaillat is not Jewish.
“We are happy that the NYPD has made an arrest of those who vandalized my office,” Espaillat told the New York Jewish Week. “This matter is now in the hands of the district attorney’s office and the criminal justice system, and I trust justice will be served.”
Espaillat is a Democrat representing Upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx. He has voted for additional aid to Israel and has spoken out in support of Israeli hostages, security funding for Jewish institutions, and Jewish students at Columbia University.
In the two days before the incident, he shared a message of solidarity with families of those held hostage by Hamas, attended the Oct. 7 memorial ceremony in Central Park, and stopped by a neighborhood commemoration event blocks away from his district office. The office is regularly picketed by small groups of pro-Palestinian protesters.
The New York Democratic Congressional Delegation condemned the vandalism shortly after it occurred, saying it came on a day of “solemn reflection” over the Oct. 7 attacks.
In the defacing of Espaillat’s office two weeks before the Oct. 8 incident, vandals scrawled “F— Israel,” “40k dead,” “genocide lover” and “terrorist” in red paint on the storefront office’s window and door. The graffiti also had an inverted red triangle, a symbol Hamas used to mark its Oct. 7 targets in propaganda videos that has become popular among pro-Palestinian protesters.
Other pro-Israel New York congressmen have had their offices hit with anti-Israel graffiti since Oct. 7, including Reps. Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.
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The vandalism, while not defined as a hate crime, came as antisemitic hate crimes have surged this year, according to NYPD data released last month. In one recent incident, a Jewish man was allegedly harassed and punched in the Upper East Side on Wednesday. The victim told CBS that the attacker spit in his face and called him a “dirty Jew.” Police were investigating the incident as a hate crime, the report said.
