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Charges Upgraded In Attack On Jewish Leader Outside Barclays Center

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man who allegedly assaulted a Jewish leader in front of the Barclays Center last fall has been slapped with upgraded charges.

As WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported, Shawn Schraeder, 25, of Queens, was facing hate crime charges Friday night in the assault on Leonard Petlakh last October outside the Brooklyn stadium.

Petlakh, head of the Brooklyn Young Men's Hebrew Association, told WCBS 880 last October he was beaten in front of his kids outside the Barclays Center, after the Brooklyn Nets-Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball game. He said he was attacked by a member of a group carrying a Palestinian flag.

Charges Upgraded In Attack On Jewish Leader Outside Barclays Center

Petlakh suffered a broken nose and black eye, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported in October. He had to get eight stitches to the face, Diamond reported.

Schraeder had been charged with assault following the attack. After many months of investigation, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson presented upgraded charges of hate crime assault, according to a JPUpdates report.

Thompson presented the upgraded charges to a grand jury, which made its determination against Schraeder on Thursday, Diamond reported.

"The bottom line is this -- here in Brooklyn, no matter who you are, no matter who you love, no matter how you look, no matter what you believe -- we're not going to allow you to be attacked because of that," Thompson said.

Petlakh's attorney, Lew Fidler, called the assault "vicious and unprovoked," according to JPUpdates.

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