Crown Heights Riot

Crown Heights riot
Location of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in New York City.
Date	August 19–21, 1991
Location	Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Causes	Reaction to local car crash
Methods	Rioting, looting, assault, arson, protests, property damage, murder
Result	Controversy in New York City mayoral election of 1993 Bettering of African American–Jewish relations
Casualties
Death(s)	2
Injuries	152 police officers 38 civilians
Arrested	129

The Crown Heights riot was a three-day racial riot that occurred from August 19 to August 21, 1991 in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. It turned black residents and Orthodox Jewish residents against each other, causing the deterioration of already tense racial relations. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two children of Guyanese immigrants were unintentionally struck by an automobile in the motorcade of rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad, a Jewish religious movement. One child died and the second was severely injured.

In its wake, several Jews were seriously injured; one Orthodox Jewish man was killed; and a non-Jewish man, apparently mistaken by rioters for a Jew, was killed by a group of black men. The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor David Dinkins, an African American, who was blamed for an ineffective police response.

Ultimately, black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.

At approximately 8:20 pm on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a station wagon with three passengers west on President Street, part of the three-car motorcade of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. The procession was led by an unmarked police car with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.

The police car and Schneerson's automobile crossed Utica Avenue on a green light and proceeded along President Street at a normal speed. But Lifsh's vehicle had fallen behind. Not wishing to lose sight of Schneerson's car, Lifsh's vehicle either crossed Utica Avenue on a yellow light or ran a red light. There was no indication of the exact speed of Lifsh's vehicle. Lifsh's vehicle struck a car being driven on Utica Avenue, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound (275 kg) stone building pillar down and pinned two children against an iron grate covering the window of a first-floor apartment in a four-story brick building (40°40′02″N 73°55′54″W / 40.66717°N 73.93166°W / 40.66717; -73.93166). Seven-year-old Gavin Cato, the son of Guyanese immigrants, who was on the sidewalk near his apartment on President Street, repairing his bicycle chain, died instantly. His seven-year-old cousin Angela Cato, who was playing nearby, survived but was severely injured.