‘NOT OPTIMISTIC’

Hanukkah Stabbing Victim May Not Regain Consciousness

“If our father does miraculously recover partially, doctors expect that he will have permanent damage to the brain,” his family said.

One of the five people stabbed in a knifing rampage at a rabbi’s Hanukkah celebration may not regain consciousness because the machete sliced into his brain, his family said. Josef Neumann, a great-grandfather with seven children, has been hospitalized since the Dec. 28 attack in Monsey, New York. “The knife penetrated his skull directly into the brain,” his family said in a statement. “Doctors are not optimistic about his chances to regain consciousness, and if our father does miraculously recover partially, doctors expect that he will have permanent damage to the brain; leaving him partially paralyzed and speech-impaired for the rest of his life.” Grafton Thomas, 37, has been charged with federal hate crimes for the attack. His lawyer says he was mentally ill, but authorities say he had a history of anti-Semitic statements.