NEW YORK, May 5 (UPI) -- Neighbors say a former New York City police officer charged with anti-Semitic vandalism has apparent mental health problems.
Michael Setiawan, 36, was arrested Sunday at his home in the borough of Queens. Investigators say he was identified through surveillance video as the man who spraypainted anti-Jewish slogans Saturday night in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood.
Borough Park is home to many in the Hasidic community. Police said Setiawan spraypainted obscene anti-Semitic slogans on buildings, including a yeshiva, or Jewish religious school, and cars.
Other residents of the Bellerose neighborhood told the New York Post they suspect Setiawan of vandalism there. They described him lying down on their property and talking to them, making little sense.
“He’s not well,’’ Randir Singh told the New York Post. “I’ve seen him walking his dog and stop suddenly then he would pretend to punch the sky or he would look like he was swatting flies.”
Setiawan, 36, was a police officer for about two years, resigning in 2007. Investigators say he had a brother who served as a traffic enforcement agent before taking his own life in 2011.
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