Hassan Chokr: Man flashes before female judge during bond hearing after hurling antisemitic remarks outside temple

During a bond hearing on Tuesday, December 6, a man accused of screaming antisemitic epithets outside a Jewish temple allegedly unzipped his pants and exposed his buttocks in front of a female judge. Following an altercation that happened outside Temple Beth El, a reform synagogue in West Bloomfield, on Friday, December 2, Hassan Chokr is being charged with two felonies for racial intimidation. On Tuesday, the offender appeared in court on a different allegation that included resisting arrest. According to reports, Chokr appeared before Wayne County Judge Regina Thomas, who had released him on bond for a Dearborn criminal case two and a half years prior. While that bond has subsequently been revoked, his current bond in Oakland County is set at $1 million. The defendant reportedly had a string of dramatic outbursts throughout the proceedings, according to Local 4/ClickonDetroit. On Monday, December 5, he insulted the judge, and the next day, at a fictitious emergency bond hearing, he mooned her. During the hearing, Chokr, who was being held at the Orange County Jail, allegedly refused to acknowledge the judge's name and said he "pleads the fifth," before getting agitated and ranting and gesturing at the camera until the judge muted his microphone.  "Now he has removed his pants to show the court his backside," the judge said, appearing to keep her composure. "I am putting him in the waiting room," she added. Revisiting Friday's incident, Bloomfield Township Police Chief James Gallagher said, "Chokr did not discriminate on who he was going to talk to in that parking lot. There were moms and dads walking their kids into school and he was using some of the most vulgar, inappropriate language and comments I've ever heard." Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Kathleen McDonald added, "I can't imagine what that must have been like for parents and small children of preschool age to be approached by someone with so much hate." The prosecutor cited one of the defendant's social media posts, in which he states, "Your Jew tactics will only backfire on you, you have no place on this earth, Jew (expletive) Jew mother (expletives). A storm is coming to wipe you all out of our lives." However, Chokr's attorney Duane Johnson contended that the defendant "posted videos and statements on Instagram where he talks about buying guns." At one point, Judge Thomas questioned Chokr's mental state. She said he "seems to be mentally ill quite frankly" and shared concerns about him being a danger to the community. "I don't know why anyone would think it is appropriate to pull down his pants and show the court their behind during a court proceeding," she said. "We are free to say whatever we want to say but we are not free from the consequences. So if we are doing things that are unsafe and we are infringing on other people's rights, we don't get to do and say anything we want to without the consequences of those actions. That's where your client finds himself today." The judge added, "He exercised his right and I am exercising my right to give him a consequence for that. Nothing that any of us do in this life is without consequence."

HORRIFYING - while Jewish parents were dropping their kids off at Temple Beth El daycare in Bloomfield Hills, MI earlier this morning, a man in the white van outrageously screams “F*ck the Jews” and “F*ck Israel” while driving by. pic.twitter.com/lgXVzjoBi9

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 2, 2022

In a case where he was ultimately charged with assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a police officer, Chokr reportedly had been freed on a $10,000 bond. In one case, the defendant was armed when he reportedly assaulted a female volunteer and ran from police while acting out at the Islamic Center of America on Ford Road. The Daily Mail reports that the matter has not yet gone to trial.