Two women who were assaulted at the scene of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Crown Heights earlier this year have filed civil lawsuits against New York City, saying NYPD officers failed to protect them from the crowds that attacked them.

The federal lawsuits, filed by attorney Leo Glickman, say the incident on Eastern Parkway in April is part of a broader pattern of NYPD officers failing to protect protesters who promote pro-Palestinian viewpoints and other causes that the suit labels as left-wing.

The lawsuits point to an NYPD training manual that cites only left-wing demonstrations as violent, including anti-Trump demonstrations, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. In the case of the Crown Heights incident, the suits say, a bias by the NYPD against pro-Palestinian protesters created a situation where officers failed to prevent the two women from being assaulted. They’re seeking unspecified damages.

The women, Enbar Ozeri and Amanda Luci, were set upon near the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters on Eastern Parkway on April 24 as demonstrators gathered on the street to protest an appearance by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's far-right national security minister.

Ozeri, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, attended the small, pro-Palestinian demonstration on Eastern Parkway that night, her lawsuit states. She was struck in the head by an object thrown by a counterprotester, and her injury required stitches, according to the suit.

Luci went to Eastern Parkway to find out what was going on after she heard a helicopter over her apartment in the neighborhood, her lawsuit states. She did not go to protest, according to the suit. A viral video captured a crowd of young men and boys, many wearing traditional Hasidic garb, calling her a protester, then surrounding her, threatening her with sexual assault and throwing objects at her. During the chaos, the video shows, a single police officer escorted her through the crowd to safety.

“My experience that night is I was just existing,” Luci, 39, told Gothamist. “And I was attacked just for existing.”

No one has been arrested in either assault.

The lawsuits come as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has vowed to disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, the unit that is deployed to protests in the city. Mamdani has been accused of antisemitism because of his criticism of Israel — an accusation he's repeatedly denied. He’ll soon have to govern a city where division over the Middle East and criticism of the NYPD persist.

The NYPD declined to comment on pending litigation, but a spokesperson said the department’s hate crimes unit is investigating the cases. The spokesperson added an officer from the Strategic Response Group drove Luci to her home that night after escorting her out of the situation, and that officers visited her to complete a police report, rather than having her come to a precinct.

A spokesperson for Chabad did not comment on the lawsuits but had previously condemned the actions of the group who attacked the women — as well as protesters who demonstrated that night on Eastern Parkway.

“We condemn the crude language and violence of the small breakaway group of young people; such actions are entirely unacceptable and wholly antithetical to the Torah’s values," Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad-Lubavitch, said in April. "The fact that a possibly uninvolved bystander got pulled into the melee further underscores the point."

NYPD training

The lawsuits accuse the NYPD of conducting biased protest training and claim the Strategic Response Group adheres to a similarly biased instruction manual.

The lawsuits say the manual for the Strategic Response Group lists examples of real life protests where it says crowds were violent or noncompliant. The examples used in the manual include anti-Trump demonstrations, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, all of which the lawsuit describes as “left-wing” causes.

In contrast, the lawsuit says NYPD officers take a permissive approach and allow illegal behavior when demonstrations “promote viewpoints favored by the NYPD.” Examples highlighted in the lawsuits include a 2018 incident involving members of the far-right group the Proud Boys in Manhattan.

That group’s leader at the time brandished a sword in full view of several police officers, but faced no repercussions, according to the lawsuit and press reports at the time. He later claimed to “have a lot of support in the NYPD,” according to the lawsuits.

The suits also highlight 2020 protests against COVID-19 restrictions by members of the city’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. At the demonstrations, protesters set fires and assaulted a photojournalist, but no one was arrested, according to the lawsuits.

The court papers say 300 NYPD officers attended a training held by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement, an interfaith coalition with the goal of raising awareness and fighting antisemitism across the globe. At the training, NYPD officers were instructed that certain slogans often chanted by pro-Palestinian protesters were clear calls for attacks on Jews and police should view those demonstrators as dangerous. The lawsuits contend the slogans, including “globalize the Intifada,” are political speech protected by the First Amendment.

“Biased viewpoint and identity policing in the name of ‘Jewish safety’ only endangers the public, including Jewish people,” Glickman, the attorney, said in a statement. “Ask Enbar Ozeri if so-called Jewish safety police practices helped keep her, a Jew, safe.”

No arrests

Since the incident on Eastern Parkway in April, Luci says she’s been contacted by a hate-crimes detective and called into a local NYPD precinct to identify her attackers in a photo array.

A police officer called Ozeri a few days after the incident, but she has not heard from law enforcement since, her lawsuit states.

City Councilmember Crystal Hudson, who represents Crown Heights, said in an Instagram post in September she’s had several meetings with NYPD officials, including Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, about what happened to Luci that night. Hudson said the NYPD has identified suspects but the police have not made arrests because of a lack of witnesses coming forward.

Luci’s lawsuit notes, “No one has been arrested for the attack on Ms. Luci despite the fact that the police have video clearly showing the faces of the men that attacked her and the fact that some of the men have been identified by name by concerned members of the community.”

Luci said the experience — and the lack of arrests — has left her frightened in her own neighborhood and across the city.

“It’s really changed my day-to-day experience,” she said. “The discriminatory policing that happened that night, it made me realize I’m not safe where I once thought I was safe.”

This story has been updated to include additional comment from an NYPD spokesperson.