Car slams repeatedly into entrance of Chabad world headquarters

Driver arrested after ramming four times into Chabad’s iconic 770 Eastern Parkway headquarters in Brooklyn, then claiming his car “slipped.”

By World Israel News Staff

An entrance to Chabad’s world headquarters in New York City was damaged Wednesday night after a car rammed into the building repeatedly.

The incident occurred at the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s iconic 770 Eastern Parkway headquarters in Brooklyn at 8:45 p.m., when a gray Honda bearing New Jersey license plates slammed into a side entrance of the building four times.

Thousands of congregants, including visitors from around the world, were inside the building at the time of the ramming. No injuries were reported.

After slamming his car into the side entrance four times, the driver exited his vehicle before haranguing onlookers and claiming that his car had “slipped.”

“I dunno,” the man said while gesturing. “It slipped. It slipped, you f**king a**hole.”

New York City police were notified, and officers dispatched to the scene arrested the driver.

A bomb squad was also sent to ensure that the vehicle had no explosives in it.

After being taken into custody, the driver told investigators that his car had suffered a mechanical failure, denying that the repeated collisions with the building were intentional.

Witnesses who spoke with The New York Post said that prior to the ramming, the driver had been spotted loitering outside the building, before rushing to the building’s entrance with his car.

The man has reportedly been seen approaching other Chabad locations in recent months, asking people for assistance.

Driver arrested on January 28, 2026 after ramming into Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway. (X)One witness said that this is not the first time the man’s presence at a Chabad site has led to police being called to intervene.

Another witness said the man had shown up at a synagogue in New Jersey last November “looking for spiritual guidance.”

“He was very learned – he knew a lot about the Bible and Judaism. He was having a hard time with life,” the source told the Post.

It is unclear if the suspect is Jewish, with sources who spoke with the Post saying that he had in the past avoided the subject while giving conflicting responses when asked directly, at times claiming his mother was Jewish, in other instances saying that he “pretended to be Jewish.”

One source said that the man once visited a New Jersey yeshiva, possibly for the purposes of seeking to convert to Judaism.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the incident while visiting 770.

“I am at 770 Chabad World Headquarters in Crown Heights, where a man intentionally, and repeatedly, crashed his car into the building. I am relieved that no one was injured in this horrifying incident,” Mamdani said.

“This is deeply alarming, especially given the deep meaning and history of the institution to so many in New York and around the world. Any threat to a Jewish institution or place of worship must be taken seriously. Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable.”