[A] New York assemblyman is demanding answers from Vermont State Police after he says a Brooklyn rabbi and his family felt “terrorized” by a trooper who ordered them out of their vehicle at gunpoint, and threw two of them down to the ground before handcuffing them.
“The family, they were really traumatized by the whole thing,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents Brooklyn, said Monday. “It’s beyond shocking. If you listen to the story, it’s crazy.”
One member of the family, he added, even dialed 911 to call for help during the stop.
“That’s incredible, if you think about it,” Hikind said. “The police are there and they are dialing 911 because they couldn’t figure out what was happening, they didn’t know what was going on. That’s remarkable.”
The case garnered headlines in New York City publications, including the tabloid, the New York Post.
And it’s prompted the assemblyman to question whether anti-Semitism played a role in the actions of the trooper toward the family, who are Hasidic Jews.
Vermont State Police say an internal investigation into the incident is underway and declined further comment.
State police identified Trooper Justin Thompson as the officer who conducted the stop.
The incident took place sometime after 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 7 on Interstate 91 in Fairlee. That’s when Rabbi Berl Fink, 57, driving a 2004 Toyota Camry, his wife, Sarah, and their two children, a son, 19, and a daughter, 16, were pulled over by a Vermont State Police trooper.
Yidi Fink, 29, another son of the couple, wasn’t there, but spoke about the incident Monday because he said his other family members were afraid they would become too upset if they had to talk about what happened again.
“I’m the one talking more than them now,” he said. “It’s healthier that way.”
He said his father was on the interstate heading for a family vacation in New Hampshire when he noticed a cruiser on the side of the highway with its blue lights flashing. His father, the son said, pulled into the left passing lane so he could give added room to the trooper, which is the law in New York.
Moments later, Yidi Fink said, his father saw a cruiser and blue lights behind him, but didn’t initially think that the trooper was trying to pull him over because he wasn’t going over the 65 mph speed limit.
The children in the vehicle, he added, told their father that they believed the trooper, now shining a high-intensity light, was trying to stop him, so he pulled over as soon he found a spot that had room on the shoulder.
That’s when the trooper ordered Berl Fink out the vehicle, his son said, pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him. The trooper, Yidi Fink added, did the same to his younger brother, ordering him out of the vehicle, “tackled” him and then put him in handcuffs. Then, he said, his mother was also ordered out the vehicle and placed in cuffs.
Before his mother was cuffed, Yidi Fink said, she called 911 and asked for help “immediately,” telling the dispatcher that the family was the victim of a “terror attack” by a police officer.
Other officers arrived at the scene and asked the family members if they had any weapons and then began searching the vehicle. Several minutes later, the officers told the family there was another more urgent call that had just come in so they all had to leave, including the trooper who had pulled them over.
The family members were uncuffed and Berl Fink was handed a citation on a charge of attempting to elude police, Yidi Fink said.
The son said he didn’t understand if his father and the rest of his family were such a threat, why they were released when another call came in.
“My mother, father, brother and sister, all felt their lives was in danger,” Yidi Fink said. “My father told me, if he would have been a heart patient, he wouldn’t have survived this.”
Sarah Fink, in an interview with the New York Post, said, “I tell you, there was brutality. He was pointing guns. I can’t tell you how traumatizing it was.”
Sarah Fink, her son said, has served as a school principal for many years, and Rabbi Berl Fink, is an author.
The day after the incident, Yidi Fink said, the family called state police seeking to file a complaint and later received a call from Sgt. Lyle Decker who told them the trooper believed his father was speeding and was drunk because he had been driving between lanes.
However, the son said, his father never received a speeding ticket, or was given a breath test.
And, Yidi Fink added, his father never speeds, with the family often teasing him about how he doesn’t drive over the speed limit.
A one-paragraph press release was issued Aug. 8 about the incident by Trooper Justin Thompson. It stated, “(T) the Vermont State Police initiated a motor vehicle stop, on a vehicle driven by Berl Fink, for a motor vehicle violation. When signaled to stop with flashing emergency lights and sounding siren, Fink failed to do so. Fink was Cited and released on a Citation for Attempting to Elude.”
Asked Monday for comment about the incident, state police provided a short statement.
“Following department procedure,” the statement read, “the Vermont State Police cannot speak about this incident due to the fact an internal investigation has been initiated regarding allegations of improper conduct. We anticipate the release of video footage when the investigation is complete.”
Yidi Fink said it’s clear from how his family dresses they are Hasidic Jews, and he speculated that may have played a role in the actions.
“We think anti-Semitism, no question about it,” he said. “What else could we think.”
“I hope that wasn’t the motivation,” Assemblyman Hikind said. “But you know what, I don’t want this to happen to anybody else, that’s the bottom line.”
Hikind wrote a letter to Gov. Phil Scott on Sept. 6, asking him to look into the “shocking” incident.
“My constituents’ dress made it clear that they were Hasidic Jews, a sight that may be uncommon in Vermont but one that is hardly a crime,” Hikind wrote. “While it would be difficult to mistake the Fink family as people who might pose a danger to police officers, they were subjected to having guns pointed at them, being handcuffed, terrorized and humiliated. This entire incident has left the Fink family traumatized and fearful of travel.”
Two days later, Sept. 8, Hikind received a response from Col. Matthew Birmingham, director of the state police. Birmingham wrote that the matter had been referred to the department’s internal affairs division for a “thorough” investigation.
Berl Fink had been set for an arraignment on the charge this week in Orange County Superior Court. However, Hikind said, he believed that is on hold pending the outcome of the state police internal investigation into the matter.
No records regarding the case are on file at the Orange County courthouse.
The family, Yidi Fink said, is considering filing a lawsuit over the incident, claiming their civil rights were violated.
Hikind said that in his many years in the New York State Assembly he’s always been a “big supporter” of law enforcement, but this case raises questions.
“Maybe he had a bad day, maybe he had a fight with someone, who knows,” Hikind said of the trooper. “If a mistake had been made, somebody could have said, ‘Oh my God, we messed up. We’re so sorry.’ That would have been the end of it.”
