Lakewood, NJ - Man Due In Court For A Simple Assault But NAACP Claims Bias Allegations

Lakewood, NJ - A township man charged with simple assault of a 15-year-old teenager - a case that has spurred bias allegations from the NAACP - has a court hearing scheduled for next week.

Elchonon Zimmerman, 43, of Lawrence Avenue, is scheduled to appear in Lakewood Municipal Court at 9:30 a.m. July 6, according to Carol Jenkins, court administrator.
The court date will be Zimmerman's first public appearance since he was charged May 17. As reported by VOS IZ NEIAS.

The case began when the teen, Jamarr Dickerson, cut through an alley on Lawrence Avenue, Zimmerman, a private school teacher, told Dickerson that he was on private property and tried to take the teen's picture with a cell phone camera. A scuffle ensued and when a patrolman arrived, he found Zimmerman kneeling on Dickerson's back.
Zimmerman was charged with simple assault, but the Ocean County/Lakewood branch of the NAACP has called for bias crime charges to be filed.
Dickerson told Warren A. Sherard, branch president, that several men who appeared to be Orthodox Jews surrounded him and Zimmerman and uttered racial slurs. Several mentioned that a black youth should not be in a predominantly Orthodox neighborhood, Dickerson told NAACP officials.

Lakewood police and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office investigated, but declined to press bias charges. Investigators say they cannot find any of the men who allegedly said racial slurs.