DECEMBER 22 • 2022 | 17
ple how much he admired Hitler and loves
the Nazis, that this guy shows up threaten-
ing us,
” Miller said. “We know better than
anyone that words matter.
”
Miller added that he was heartened by
the number of law enforcement officials
who attended the event and thanked the
Federation for nimbly organizing the eve-
ning in under two weeks.
“There was a wonderful turnout from the
community, and I was most gratified and
reassured to see the large representation by
our law enforcement,
” Miller said. “There is
no way anyone is going to walk away from
tonight thinking that we are alone.
”
Audrey Bloomberg, regional director of
B’nai Brith Youth Organization who attend-
ed the event, said the teens she works with
are very plugged into social media platforms
and were alarmed when the
perpetrator’s videos began cir-
culating on Instagram. She said
many of them are already living
with the daily reality of school
threats, both in public school
and Jewish day school settings.
“It was good to learn how the
different agencies communicate behind the
scenes,
” said Bloomberg, who often reminds
BBYO teens to not publicly post residential
addresses of where events are being held and
who has hired extra security for a region-
al BBYO event coming up at the end of
December.
“My teens are talking about this, and they
know what’s going on. Some have expe-
rienced antisemitism firsthand, but they
choose to be involved in BBYO because they
are proud to be Jewish,
” she said.
PANEL ADDRESSES
PUBLIC CRITICISM
The event featured two speaking panels of
community leaders moderated by David
Kurzmann, Federation senior director of
community affairs.
The first panel focused on the investi-
gation details of the Dec. 2 incident. The
panel included Bloomfield Township Chief
of Police James Gallagher, Oakland County
Prosecutor Karen McDonald
and Bouchard.
Gallagher first commended
the actions of TBE’s security
personnel for their decisive
actions, including remaining in
constant communication with
Bloomfield Township Police as
well as the actions of the officer
who first arrived on the scene.
Acknowledging the public’s
criticism of the traffic stop,
which was filmed by the sus-
pect and shared widely on
Instagram later that day, nota-
bly when the man refused to
hand over his identification and
one officer fist-bumped him
before letting him drive away, Gallagher said
much was going on behind the scenes.
Detailing the timeline of events that
occurred on Dec. 2, Gallagher said though
the officer could not hold and detain the
suspect after the stop, all surrounding police
departments had been notified to be on sur-
veillance of the man. Gallagher said the sus-
pect uploaded his video to Instagram, which
gave law enforcement the evidence needed
to make the arrest.
“From 4 p.m. on, we were in constant
contact with the [Oakland County] prose-
cutor’s office and submitted our information
to the prosecutor at 10 p.m.,
” Gallagher said.
By early Saturday morning, we had learned
he was in the custody of Dearborn Police.
”
Gallagher acknowledged that on the
surface, the process of police work is “not
always pretty.
”
“But, speaking on behalf of all the law
enforcement officers here, we all stand up
against hate. We cannot believe some of
the [hate speech] that we heard that day.
Antisemitism on Dec. 2 ended up in our
backyard and we worked together across our
agencies to put together the pieces of this
puzzle.
”
County Prosecutor Karen McDonald
offered her rationale as to why she charged
the suspect with two counts of ethnic intim-
idation and stressed that there are limits on
free speech when it threatens the safety of
others, especially children.
“When a crime focuses on a group of
people solely because of their race or reli-
gion, we have to examine the context of that
crime,
” McDonald said. “We are seamlessly
working with our law enforcement arms and
educating them that you cannot just drive
into a parking lot of a temple where children
are being dropped off and subject them to
that kind of speech because the sole reason
of that speech was to scare and threaten
those children and their caregivers. He knew
preschoolers were being dropped off at that
time.
“We cannot normalize or minimalize this
and say this is free speech,
” she added. “I
believe we are headed to a very dangerous
place and, as a prosecutor, I think it is my
job to make sure that we don’t get there.
”
ADL Michigan Director Carolyn
Normandin said although she often tempers
her words carefully and rationally, antisem-
itism in the United States has reached a
“fever pitch.
” At the same time,
Normandin reassured the
audience that she is in constant
contact and collaboration with
Sikorski, law enforcement and
prosecution officials, and they
should have confidence in
these efforts.
COMMUNITY SECURITY
The second panel focused
on community security
and featured Sikorski, U.S.
Attorney Dawn Ison and West
Bloomfield Chief of Police
Michael Patton.
Sikorski, a former law
enforcement officer, again reit-
erated the importance of the constant ongo-
ing work and collaboration that happens
behind the scenes to ensure the security of
the community.
Speaking to the strength of the commu-
nity at large as well as the speed of action
upon first responders, Sikorski was first
alerted to the situation by TBE Director of
Security Morris Collins.
“I want to take a moment and
acknowledge the longstanding friendship,
this professionalism I share with Collins,
and how quickly he and his team handled
this situation that morning under great
duress,
” Sikorski said. “
After talking with
him briefly, I got some initial information,
photos of the man and the vehicle, and
this information was immediately shared
with our security team throughout the
community. And that began a continuous
communication throughout the rest of the
weekend.
”
Among the attendees were several
members of Jewish War Veterans including
WW II Veteran and Jewish Sr. Vice
Commander-Emeritus, Arthur Fishman, 95,
of Oak Park.
“It is good to know there is a grid of
security protecting us,
” he said. “I first
experienced [antisemitism] as a kid in
school, and it’s still around. I’ve seen hatred,
but I’ve also seen individuals overcome it.
”
Audrey
Bloomberg
County
Prosecutor
Karen
McDonald
Chief
James
Gallagher
Carolyn
Normandin
Gary
Sikorski