{"id":396,"date":"2026-08-13T22:31:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=396"},"modified":"2026-08-13T22:31:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:31:52","slug":"jewish-nyc-man-demands-justice-for-wife-killed-in-hit-and-run-by-alleged-antisemitic-vandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=396","title":{"rendered":"Jewish NYC Man Demands Justice for Wife Killed in Hit-and-Run by Alleged Antisemitic Vandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Trager was stunned, sitting on the ground, feeling his body for serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump and Senate Republicans Struggle to Get on the Same Page as Midterms Loom<\/a><\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019m alive<\/em>, he thought, miraculously.<\/em> Then, the panic set in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Cara?\u201d he cried urgently. \u201cWhere\u2019s Cara?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he saw her. His 71-year-old wife was lying on the ground \u2014 face down on the pavement \u2014 and she wasn\u2019t getting up.<\/p>\n

Michael rushed over, fearing the worst. Though it was several days later before doctors officially declared his wife dead, Michael insists she died right there on the street. And he didn\u2019t even get to say goodbye.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the way people die,\u201d Michael told National Review<\/span>. \u201cI lose a wife from 47 years, almost 50 years. We had an excellent marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael and Cara Trager had been headed home from dinner, walking down Union Turnpike in Queens, N.Y. It was Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

A car turned onto the turnpike. The driver, Dawood Faisal, had been doing doughnuts on the intersecting Francis Lewis Boulevard. Already speeding well above 35 miles per hour, he accelerated to 75 miles per hour on the turnpike and ran a red light.<\/p>\n

There was the sound of metal on metal as the 2013 Toyota Prius collided with two other cars. The Tragers were hit by one of two cars Faisal had struck. One moment, they were crossing the sidewalk. The next moment, they were on the ground. Both were transported to the hospital immediately. Faisal tried to flee and attacked bystanders with a tree branch before he was detained.<\/p>\n

District Attorney Melinda Katz called it \u201cmanslaughter and assault.\u201d Michael said it was more: one of many recent hate crimes committed against Jewish New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe helped destroy my life, ultimately, and he\u2019s hurt my children,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n

Given Faisal\u2019s history, his choice of neighborhood to go on a hit-and-run spree doesn\u2019t seem accidental to Michael.<\/p>\n

Weeks earlier, Faisal had been identified as the vandal who toppled nine metal plant stands and threw several fistfuls of dirt at Bagels & Co., a Jewish-owned, Israeli-flag-adorned kosher bagel shop in the Tragers\u2019 neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Faisal is believed to have returned to the shop on May 23, two days before the hit-and-run incident. Wearing traditional Islamic attire, he kicked down eleven metal plant stands and attempted to knock over a clay pot.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until July 31 that Faisal was arrested by the New York Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force and arraigned for hate crimes connected to the bagel shop vandalism.<\/p>\n

His next court date is set for September 8, and he faces a maximum of seven years if convicted.<\/p>\n

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The Tragers\u2019 case, however, was brought to the Queens Supreme Court first.<\/p>\n

On June 17, 22-year-old Faisal was charged on ten counts of \u201cmanslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree, two counts of leaving the scene without reporting, reckless driving, menacing in the second degree, failing to stop at a steady red signal, driving in excess of the maximum speed limit and operating a vehicle at unreasonable speed,\u201d according to a press release from District Attorney Katz.<\/p>\n

If convicted, Faisal will serve a sentence of over 15 years in prison. Currently, he is being held in custody without bail in New York.<\/p>\n

Notably, Faisal is not being charged with a hate crime for targeting a known Jewish neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough he was not trying to necessarily kill Cara Trager or Angel Michael Trager, etc., by virtue of where he was acting insanely and going down the roads in the way that he did, was there a likelihood that damage would be caused . . . and would he be killing or injuring a Jewish person?\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael answered \u201cyes\u201d to both questions. \u201cI\u2019ve lived in this borough for 68 years, so I\u2019m not new to this borough,\u201d Michael told NR. \u201cAnd in that area, it\u2019s heavily Jewish. So there\u2019s the likelihood that was what happened.\u201d He said there were enough kosher restaurants and supermarkets to suggest that the surrounding neighborhood is heavily Jewish.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody who didn\u2019t have hate would have done what he did on a quiet, suburban street,\u201d Michael told NR. \u201cWe\u2019re saying that the actions that occurred prior to this \u2014 his actions with the restaurant itself \u2014 is [sic] all part of his hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hate crimes against Jewish New Yorkers have been on the rise this year. The Jewish Chronicle <\/em>reports that anti-Jewish crimes increased over 50 percent compared to early August 2025. The Wall Street Journal <\/em>found that hate crimes against the Jewish community increased by 8.5 percent in New York City in 2026. Between January 1 and June 30, 2026, the New York Police Department reported that over half of the incidents it handled were against the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to the hit-and-run, nearby locations like the Rego Park Jewish Center and Congregation Machane Chodosh in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, as well as homes and even a car, were targeted by a group of young people who spray-painted swastikas on them.<\/p>\n

Michael said the authorities insist that this incident did not involve Faisal, but that he \u201c[doesn\u2019t] know what that means.\u201d \u201cDid they actually get the cell phone records to prove it?\u201d he asked. \u201cIf they did, to what extent did they do this?\u201d<\/p>\n

He told NR that his goal was ultimately to highlight the \u201cunfathomable\u201d reality that Faisal could achieve bail on September 8.<\/p>\n

Michael is frustrated with the lack of response from community leaders and even the New York City mayor.<\/p>\n

After Mamdani was elected New York City mayor in November 2025, Michael suggested to his wife that they sell the house but she refused.<\/p>\n

He says he saw the \u201cwriting on the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want justice to be served. I want to be an example to others that this is not the way and for people and for a community and elected officials to speak out against it,\u201d he said. \u201cShow compassion, so these things don\u2019t happen again, and make it clear that this behavior is not acceptable and not tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more HHS Launches Civil Rights Probe into Kaiser Permanente for Allegedly Prioritizing Black Patients<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Jewish New York City man is demanding justice after his wife was killed in a Queens hit-and-run allegedly caused by a man later charged with antisemitic vandalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s"],"yoast_head":"\nJewish NYC Man Demands Justice for Wife Killed in Hit-and-Run by Alleged Antisemitic Vandal - American Housing Transition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=396\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jewish NYC Man Demands Justice for Wife Killed in Hit-and-Run by Alleged Antisemitic Vandal - 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