Whassup Boro Park

Tuesday night's arrest of an elderly chasidic man for talking on a cell phone while driving, which caused a small -ranking police official of cursing and making disparaging remarks about Jews when responding to the scene.

A City Council member of Brooklyn, Simcha Felder, charged that the chief of department, Joseph Esposito, yelled, "Get the f- Jews out of here," then turned to Mr. Felder and said, "Get the f- NYPD. His position was formerly called chief of police.

The NYPD said Mr. Esposito used profanity, but that no departmental charges would result.

"Chief Esposito acknowledged that in attempting to bring under control a chaotic situation in front of the 66th Precinct station house last night that he used inappropriate language in instructing police officers to 'get these f-people out of here,'" a spokesman for the Police Department, Paul Browne, said in a statement. He did not comment on the allegation of Mr. Esposito using derogatory language about Jews with kippot.

Some refused to accept the explanation. "When you have a very high-ranking police officer on the scene shouting "f--- the community,' something is horribly wrong," Assembly Member Dov Hikind said. "What the crowd of mostly teens did, setting fires, is inexcusable, but the NYPD was grossly unprepared and did not command nor control the situation."

The trouble broke out when Arthur Schick with a kippah, 75, was pulled over for driving while using his mobile telephone,said. Police asked Mr. Schick, who wears a hearing aid, for his license and vehicle registration. He started arguing with the officers, police said, and was arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a cell phone, obstructing governmental administration, and disorderly conduct. State law says it is illegal to drive while using a hand-held phone.