City Council candidate Heshy Tischler was arrested Sunday night in connection to the assault of an Orthodox journalist in Borough Park last week, police said.
Tischler, who is also Orthodox, was taken into custody at his house in Borough Park and charged with unlawful imprisonment and inciting a riot, according to police.
Videos posted to social media show Tischler being escorted by police into a dark minivan as dozens of people look on.
Tischler last Friday indicated he would be turning himself into police on Monday morning after he appeared to egg on an unruly mob of protesters who attacked Jacob Kornbluh, a reporter for Jewish Insider.
The firebrand complained on camera Sunday night at the timing of his arrest, saying he was “tricked.”
“I called, I even spoke to the chief. They tricked me. They’re telling everybody that I was supposed to be arrested tomorrow,” Tischler said on a video posted to Twitter by Yaakov Pollak.
The bust comes after Mayor de Blasio said on Friday an arrest was nearing in Kornbluh’s beating.
Kornbluh was punched and kicked last Wednesday by an angry crowd who screamed at him, calling him “Nazi” and “Hitler,” amid protests over the the state’s new coronavirus restrictions.
Some of the protesters were upset about Kornbluh documenting of the Borough Park protests.
Tischler’s lawyer, Sara Shulevitz, said Sunday night that her client was the victim of a “politically-motivated arrest.”
“He is not guilty and this is a politically motivated arrest and the truth will come out,” Shulevitz told The Post at Brooklyn Criminal Court ahead of Tischler’s arraignment.
Soya Radin, the co-host of Tischler’s radio show “The Just Enough Heshy Show,” claimed de Blasio was behind the bust.
“Tischler had nothing to do with hitting anyone. Pure de Blasio,” Radin said at the courthouse.