Two Syracuse University students, including one from Greenwich, have been charged with what the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office deemed a hate crime after a clear plastic bag of pork was thrown onto the interior wall of a Jewish fraternity house during a Rosh Hashanah dinner, splattering the contents there and on the floor.
According to WRVO 89.9 a public radio source for NPR news, the chief student experience officer at Syracuse University, Allen Groves, said the incident occurred around 6:00pm Tuesday at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house, where members were gathered to celebrate the first of the High Holidays commencing the Jewish New Year.
According to Syracuse.com, Syracuse police in court papers described the incident was a “religiously motivated attack” on the historically Jewish fraternity, and quoted Zeta Beta Tau house President Danny Lax on Thursday saying, “the actions that took place at our house not only hurt our fraternity, but also the broader Jewish community and beyond.”
According to multiple reports, Kyle Anderson, identified as being from Greenwich, CT, and Samuel Patten, both 18-year-old sophomores at the university, were arrested.
It is alleged that Anderson drove a car with Patten as passenger to the Jewish fraternity’s house, and that Patten entered the fraternity and threw the plastic bag of meat at the wall.
According to WSTM of Syracuse, both Anderson and Patten were charged with Burglary 2nd degree (New York state law defines burglary as unlawfully entering a building with the intent to commit a crime inside) as a hate crime and Criminal Nuisance 2nd degree, following an investigation by the university’s Dept of Public Safety and the City Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Jewish people traditionally do not eat pork because the Torah forbids it, as pigs are not considered kosher animals.
WSTM reported that suspect Patten was observed running from the house and getting into the waiting vehicle, which was then seen fleeing with both suspects inside, according to the victims’ account to police. Anderson and Patten were later located by authorities and detained.
Both suspects entered not guilty pleas on Wednesday.