The desperate mom of the troubled New Jersey man who allegedly rammed his car into an iconic Brooklyn synagogue begged for him to be placed in protective custody Friday as he was sent to jail on a $500,000 bond.
Dan Sohail, 36, appeared downcast, with stringy hair and an unzipped Dickies workwear jacket, at his arraignment in Brooklyn criminal court on hate crime charges in the bizarre Wednesday evening disturbance at Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights.
“It’s not just that you are charged with attempting to seriously injure people with an automobile, but you are charged with doing it as a hate crime on their perceived membership of a religious class,” Judge Philip Tisne said as he imposed the six-figure bond on Sohail.
The harsh words came after an impassioned plea by Sohail’s mother, delivered through the disturbed man’s defense attorney Gregory Marshall.
Sohail’s mom contended he suffered mental illness and erratic behavior for at least a decade and said she wouldn’t be able to post bail, Marshall said.
She pleaded for protective custody so that “he’s not harmed” while he’s behind bars pending trial, the lawyer said.
Tisne granted the bid for protective custody, as well as a request that Sohail receive a psychiatric examination.
The judge also issued a protective order for the synagogue’s director of operations.
Sohail crashed his Honda into entrance of the synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway — the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement — five times, prompting one person to run inside in a bid to escape, said Assistant District Attorney Adam Ghalmi.
“Luckily no injuries were sustained,” Ghalmi said.
“This is an unacceptable and brazen attack on the members of the Chabad Lubavitch community.”
Ghalmi had asked for a $1 million bond, but the judge ultimately went with the lower, still-significant bail.
The wild caught-on-video attack was quickly denounced as an act of antisemitism by New York leaders, but many congregants said afterward they had viewed Sohail more as a loopy religious seeker — one of many who flock to the Chabad.
The Carteret, NJ., native had been fixated on converting to Judaism and had attended events inside the synagogue — including a recent one in which a social media video showed him happily dancing in jean shorts.
But there were signs that Sohail’s seemingly sincere quest to explore his newfound Jewish faith had gone awry.
A rabbi at a New Jersey yeshiva told The Post that an agitated Sohail showed up Monday declaring that “God had sent him.”
He grew angry when asked to leave and got his car stuck in the parking lot, with students ultimately helping dig it out, the rabbi said.
After Sohail’s arraignment, the Chabad’s spokesman Yaacov Behrman waved off the schlemiel’s supposed hopes to convert.
“Intentionally ramming a car into a synagogue filled with rabbinical students is antisemitic, period. The act speaks for itself,” he posted on X.
“And last I checked, ramming your car into a synagogue isn’t part of the conversion process.”
Sohail’s next court date is Feb. 3.
— Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer
