A taxi driver decapitated a baby Jesus statue using his shoe outside a New York City church in a blasphemous caught-on-camera tantrum that is being investigated as a hate crime.
A sacrilegious scoundrel driving an SUV taxi pulled up to the front of the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Flushing around 5:30 a.m. Sunday and calmly crossed the street – before removing a shoe and charging toward white marble statues of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, according to police and footage released by the Diocese of Brooklyn.
The taxi driver wailed on the heads of Mary and Joseph with his shoe, then turned his attention to Jesus and hacked at its head until it went spinning to the ground, the footage shows.
The suspect is then seen calmly walking off, his shoe-weapon still in hand.
“This is a very unsettling incident, and those who attended Mass yesterday were shocked and horrified to find out this happened,” said Father Sean Suckiel, the parish’s pastor.
“The Holy Family is the foundation of our faith community, and this statue holds special meaning to so many in our parish,” he added.
The statue stood outside the church for 42 years, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the damage done Sunday will cost $20,000 to repair.
The Mary and Joseph statues made it out unscathed despite the beating they took.
Hitting people with the underside of a shoe is considered a grave insult in the Middle East, though it is unclear whether that was the suspect’s intent or if a shoe was merely a tool he had on hand.
“We must pray for an increase in religious tolerance throughout our city,” Fr. Suckiel said.
