Police: Nyack Teen Charged With Hate Crime In Memorial Park Attack

A 17-year-old from Nyack is charged with a hate crime in a baseball bat attack on a man in Nyack’s on Tuesday, according to .

Wendy Jean was arrested after a foot chase in Nyack and police said they discovered the bat used in the attack hidden under a car on Hudson Avenue.

Police were alerted to a problem at Memorial Park at about 10:40 p.m., getting a call about a possible fight. When officers from Orangetown and got to the park, they found a 30-year-old Hispanic man bleeding heavily from a head wound.

The victim told police he was attacked by a person with an aluminum baseball bat after that person had made a derogatory, anti-Hispanic remark. The victim described the attacker and police began checking the area.

Jean was spotted nearby in Nyack on Hudson Avenue. Police said Jean ran from police officers and he was chased to 50 S. Franklin St., where he was caught on a second floor stairwell by an Orangetown police officer with the assistance of South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Robert Van Cura.

A South Nyack-Grand View officer found the baseball bat under a car on Hudson Avenue.

The victim was treated for a serious head wound by members of Rockland Paramedics and was taken to Nyack Hospital by volunteers of Nyack Community Ambulance Corps. Volunteers of the Nyack Fire Department were called out to wash down the bloodied area in the park where the attack had taken place.

Members of the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department Bureau of Criminal Identification assisted in gathering evidence at the park.

Jean was charged with felony assault as a hate crime and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned Wednesday morning in Nyack Village Court at ordered held in the Rockland County Correctional Facility in New City on $10,000 bail pending a May 29 hearing.