Driver targets Jewish students at NYC yeshiva; man had mental-health problems: roommate (EXCLUSIVE)

A crazed driver passing a Hasidic Jewish school in Brooklyn verbally assaulted a group of Jewish people before getting up on the sidewalk and trying to run them down Wednesday, police said, noting none were injured.

The 58-year-old driver was zipping past Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School, a private school known as a yeshiva, on Glenwood Road in East Flatbush around 11:25 a.m. when he made antisemitic statements to people outside, according to cops.

The man, behind the wheel of a white Ford Crown Victoria, then turned onto E. 55th St. and mounted the sidewalk, attempting to run the group over.

“He came once and then he came back,” 18-year-old student Ari Shleft told the Daily News on Wednesday evening. “The first time he came up on the sidewalk.

“He aimed at two of us but they got out of the way,” he added.

In video of the incident posted to the website Yeshiva World, the man was seen driving directly at three people outside the school.

When the targets ran inside, the driver got back onto the roadway and left the way he came, video shows.

Shleft told The News the man went around the block and then came back.

“The second time, I heard a squeal and I ran out of the building,” said Shleft. “He backed up and went around the corner and tried to run down three more who were in the street.”

Cops were called to the intersection and took the driver, Asghar Ali, into custody. He was charged with attempted murder and attempted assault as a hate crime, among other charges.

Ali’s roommate at a Midwood apartment said the man suffers from mental health issues.

“He’s been to hospital many, many times — every eight to ten months,” Abdullah Mustafa told The News. “He kept a knife under his pillow. He’s afraid someone is out to get him.”

Before the incident, Mustafa had no indication his roommate harbored anti-Jewish views.

“I’ve never heard him say anything antisemitic,” said Mustafa, 39. “He likes it in this neighborhood and we have a lot of Jews living here. It’s safe here.”

Ali, a Pakistani immigrant, works as a livery cab driver, according to the roommate.

“I was worried about him because he started to act weird lately,” said Mustafa.

No one was injured during the attack.

The incident came amid an alarming uptick in antisemitic incidents in the city since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked a fierce war in Gaza.

Earlier this month, a 12-year-old boy pounded on two Jewish children playing in a bike lane in Brooklyn.

The victims, ages 13 and 11, were playing tag with about a dozen other children on Franklin Ave. near Myrtle Ave. in Clinton Hill May 12 when the attacker, riding a bike, ordered the kids to move.

The boy came back later and shoved the 13-year-old boy to the ground before he put the younger victim in a headlock, pushed him to the ground and kicked and stomped him, video shows.

Cops arrested the 12-year-old attacker on Wednesday and charged him with assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.

As of May 21, antisemitic crimes were up 55% compared to the same time frame last year, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said last week. Overall, hate crimes were up 31%.

There had been 143 anti-Jewish crimes — 51 more than the same time last year — Kenny said.

“We don’t want to go public because of what’s happening right now,” said an 18-year-old yeshiva student who declined to share a name. “Where we are in the world, it’s not safe. We don’t want to be targeted.”