Boy, 11, Charged With Hate Crime After Torching Jewish-Owned School Bus: Cops

An 11-year-old Brooklyn boy has been charged with a hate crime for setting fire to a school bus.

Police in New York have arrested an 11-year-old boy and charged him with hate crimes after startling surveillance footage emerged showing several children apparently torching a Jewish-owned school bus.

In video obtained by CrownHeights.info, four to five young boys can be seen carrying cardboard into a bus parked outside Beth Rivkah, a private girls school associated with the area's Hasidic Jewish population.

Firefighters battle to put out a school bus blaze police say was set by an 11-year-old (CrownHeights.info)

Some moments pass, during which the boys board and leave the bus several times, before flames are seen inside the vehicle. 

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After the boys have all run to safety, the bus is engulfed and black smoke pours out.

A witness contacted firefighters, who quickly arrived to douse the blaze. The bus was left significantly damaged.

Authorities managed to put out the fire, but the bus was heavily damaged. (CrownHeights.info)

Photos from inside the vehicle show melted seats and burned prayer books.

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An area neighborhood watch helped track down the 11-year-old, whom police have charged with arson as a hate crime and criminal mischief as a hate crime.

Inside the damaged bus, prayer books used by students at a nearby Hasidic girls' private school are burned. (CrownHeights.info)

An NYPD official told InsideEdition.com that the department's hate crimes task force and district attorney determined that hate crimes charges were appopriate in the case but did not give further details.

Other boys, who range in age from 10 to 15, are still wanted by NYPD investigators for questioning.

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