Man arrested for attacking man outside Jersey City bar: mayor
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (PIX11) – A man was arrested in the attack of another man outside of a Jersey City bar on Monday, according to Mayor Steven Fulop.
Fulop said 31-year-old Fadel Abdallah, of Bergen County, was charged with aggravated assault.
Moath Hamzeh, the victim, told PIX11 News that a group of people had asked him about his ancestry when he was attacked around 1:30 a.m. Hamzeh is Palestinian-American.
"I just got sucker punched on my left side, fell, twisted my knee and bumped my head on the pavement," Hamzeh recalled. "After that, they continued to kick me, spit on me and say racial slurs while I was down on the ground."
The attack was caught on camera. Fulop said the incident isn't being investigated as a hate crime.
Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.