Jewish family to sue NYC for $100M after being allegedly pummeled in ‘antisemitic’ brawl at 5th-grade graduation
A Jewish family who was allegedly pummeled in an antisemitic attack at a fifth-grade public-school graduation in Brooklyn is planning to sue the city for $100 million, The Post has learned.
The infamous caught-on-video mayhem at PS 682 in Gravesend on June 14 included Johan Nunez getting smashed in the head with a woman’s black stiletto and wife Lana Lerner dragged along the ground by her hair, said the family, which filed a notice of claim, or precursor to a lawsuit, Monday.
“My kids will forever remember their fifth-grade graduation as a time that their family was attacked instead of remembering a joyous event of one of their greatest accomplishments of graduating the fifth grade with honors,” Lerner, 42, told The Post.
“I hope that no other family has to go through what my family went through and no other child has to witness what my children witnessed,’’ the still-shaken mom said.
The alleged attack was just one of a slew of suspected anti-Israel hate crimes in the city since the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s heinous assault on the Jewish state Oct. 7.
It occurred after a young boy wearing an allegedly school-approved graduation cap with “Free Palestine” written on it crossed the stage waving a small Palestinian flag as he got his diploma.
Lerner, an underwriter with twins who were graduating at the time, remembers how her own mother recoiled and left her seat in disgust.
“I can’t sit through this,” Lerner’s mother, a Jewish refugee from Ukraine, said to her daughter in Russian.
Another woman sitting next to Lerner turned to her and said, “I can’t believe we just witnessed that.”
A fellow shocked parent said she asked a school administrator how this was allowed at a school graduation ceremony.
“The administrator basically told her that ‘we contacted legal and were told it’s free speech and it’s allowed,’” Lerner said.
After graduation, families including Lerner’s flocked to the school’s balloon display to take photos.
That’s when the large family of the boy with the Palestinian cap and flag approached and tried to shove them out of the way, according to the notice of claim.
“They were pushing my mother out of the way,” Lerner told The Post, “She turned to them and said, ‘Excuse me, please stop pushing. There is plenty of space.’
“An older gentleman [turned] to us out of nowhere and said, ‘Free Palestine.’”
Lerner said her husband tried to defuse the situation by saying, “This is not the time or place for this.’”
But one of the men in the other family kept screaming, “Free Palestine! Gaza is ours!” she said.
A younger member of the unidentified other family then allegedly walked up and sucker-punched Nunez in his temple, put him in a headlock and dragged him to the ground.
Multiple people joined in on the fracas, including a woman who nailed Nunez with her black stiletto, the family said.
Lerner said their 16-year-old son tried to help get people off of his dad but ended up bloodied, too.
She tried to record with her phone but only captured a few moments before “a woman from the same family came up from the left side of me, pulled me by the hair, dragged me on the ground, kicked me, said, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Lerner said.
The fight was eventually broken up by two male teachers.
Police ended up arresting Ez-Al Dean Bazar, 26, who is accused of punching and dragging Nunez, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Bazar’s lawyer did not reply to a Post request for comment.
Lerner’s family is claiming negligence, assault, emotional distress — and alleged human-rights violations because one of the young graduate’s cap and flag.
By tolerating the cap and flag, the school “incited hostility” by “allowing an antisemitic message to be displayed at a school event,” the claim said.
The notice of claim also said the school was “negligent” in providing proper security.
The city Department of Education, asked for comment by The Post on Monday, pointed to an earlier statement it gave on the fracas.
“Graduations should be times of celebration and joy, and we strongly denounce anyone who acts in a violent or aggressive way during such events,” the DOE said. “Initial reports we have received from multiple witnesses indicate that both families engaged in aggressive behavior, but we are still investigating the matter and are simultaneously engaging with families as we work towards a resolution.”
A DOE source said several witnesses, including an assistant principal, reported that both sides were inappropriate and refused to quit fighting.
The city Law Department declined comment.
Sanford Rubenstein and Mark Shirian, the lawyers for the family, said, “We also intend to file civil complaints against not only the Department of Education but also those individuals who were responsible for this horrendous assault.”
Lerner said, “I personally think a fifth-grade graduation is no time or place for political statements of any kind.
“It’s a time for 5th graders to celebrate a milestone in their lives, not make a political event out of it.”
