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

