One month into the Israel-Gaza war, Ashish Prashar put on a kaffiyeh and took his 18-month-old son to a playground near their home in Brooklyn, where a woman he’d never seen before began yelling at him. As Prashar took out his phone and began filming, the woman continued to yell, threw her phone at him, and then threw a coffee cup holding a hot beverage. It was a chance encounter that led to spiraling repercussions: a police investigation, hate crime charges, an angry mob on the internet, a wrongly identified assailant, and a father left with questions about justice, mercy and what anger in such fraught times can turn into.
This story is part of our Deep Reads series, which showcases narrative journalism at The Washington Post. It was written and read by Ruby Cramer. Audio production and original composition by Bishop Sand.
How to be a financially savvy holiday shopper
Sam Altman and the chaos at OpenAI
Trapped in Gaza
Deep Reads: The librarian who couldn’t take it anymore
Surviving to graduation, Part 3
Surviving to graduation, Part 2
Surviving to graduation, Part 1
Why it took so long to get a postpartum depression pill
Netanyahu: The man leading Israel's war against Hamas
The soft power of China’s pandas
Portugal's secret to living longer
Why are so many Americans dying early?
Trump on the witness stand
What Tuesday’s election could mean for abortion in 2024
The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop: ‘We all had great expectations’
The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop: ‘Somebody knows’
A family torn apart by a Trump-era policy
Why the U.S. gives so much aid to Israel
A night with the rat hunters
The “second phase” of Israel’s war with Gaza
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Daily
The 7
Consider This from NPR
Today, Explained
WSJ Tech News Briefing