A man was sentenced on Wednesday to six months and a week behind bars for ramming his car into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in January, damaging some of the a side-entrance door.Dan Sohail, 36, of New Jersey, was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court, where he was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution.The sentence will allow Sohail, who has already spent six months in custody, to be released in about a week.Sohail was charged with intentionally damaging religious property, and he pleaded guilty in May.Prosecutors recommended a 14-month sentence, which would have kept Sohail behind bars for roughly another eight months, but the judge declined the request.
Prosecutors sought the longer sentence as a deterrent to future attacks on Jewish institutions amid a rise in antisemitic hate crimes.DRIVER RAMS CAR REPEATEDLY INTO DOORS OF NYC JEWISH SITE, SUSPECT DETAINEDDan Sohail was sentenced to six months and a week behind bars for ramming his car into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters.(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)On Jan.
28, Sohail repeatedly rammed his vehicle into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters.He moved protective barriers, gestured for congregants to get out of the way and drove his car into the building’s side entrance five times, knocking the door off its hinges and destroying his car's front bumper.While the doors were damaged, no injuries were reported.Judge Eric N.
Vitaliano said he was "somewhat saddened" that the Justice Department wanted him to be influenced at sentencing by the public’s mistaken initial impression that the attack was a hate crime.Prosecutors said ahead of sentencing that 80 of 146 hate crime incidents across New York City since the start of the year were based on crimes targeting Jewish people and institutions.NY ASSEMBLYMAN CALLS FOR DOJ TO INVESTIGATE MAMDANI, PROTECT JEWISH NEW YORKERS AFTER STABBING ATTACKSJudge Eric N.Vitaliano said he was "somewhat saddened" to see that the DOJ attempted to influence him by ...