Widower pushes for antisemitic hate-crime charge after wife's fatal Queens hit-and-run
Michael Trager, whose wife Cara died in a Memorial Day hit-and-run in Queens, is urging authorities to charge the driver, Dawood Faisal, with an antisemitic hate crime.
On Memorial Day, Michael and Cara Trager were struck by a vehicle traveling 75 mph in a 35-mph zone on Union Parkway in Queens, killing Cara days later. The driver, 22-year-old Dawood Faisal, is being held on Rikers Island on manslaughter and related charges and is accused of two prior vandalism incidents at Bagels & Co., a Jewish-owned shop displaying Israeli symbols. Trager, now 70, says the suspect’s history and the heavily Jewish neighborhood raise the possibility of an antisemitic motive and is calling for a hate-crime designation.
He recently spoke with Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, and hopes to discuss the case with Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Trager acknowledges the difficulty of proving hate-crime intent but wants the incident to prompt stronger protections for the city’s Jewish community. He stresses that accountability could help prevent future attacks.
Why it matters
The case underscores concerns about antisemitic violence and the application of hate-crime statutes in the United States.
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