The man, identified as Ehud Halevi, was sleeping at the ALIYA Center in Crown Heights.

Security camera footage at the ALIYA Center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, shows police inexplicably pummeling a young Jewish man who had been sleeping at the center, which is a synagogue and outreach center for troubled youth.

According to the CrownHeights.info website, on Monday evening, October 8, police were called about a man who was sleeping in the lounge of the ALIYA Center. "The caller may have mistakenly believed that the homeless man, Ehud H. Halevi, was loitering on the center’s property without permission," the website notes.

Apparently basing their report on off-the-record conversations with unnamed sources, CrownHeights.info said that two officers from the 71st precinct arrived and woke the man. "Confused as to why he was being accosted by police, the man refused the officers’ attempts to escort him outside, insisting that he had permission to be there and asking that they allow him to prove it."

The young man can be seen passively resisting arrest, by holding his hands behind his back to avoid being handcuffed.

The male police officer then assumed a boxing stance and began pummeling his victim.

"Over the next couple of minutes the man is also pepper-sprayed and beaten with a truncheon by the female officer, all while posing no threat to the officers’ well-being whatsoever," writes the website.

A source confirmed to CrownHeights.info that the man had full permission to be at the ALIYA center, and that had been living there for a month without any trouble. It is unknown who called the police or why.

The man is reportedly being charged with assault on a police officer – a felony – which can bring a sentence of 5 years in prison upon conviction. He is also facing four misdemeanor charges and four violations, including trespassing, resisting arrest and harassment. He has been released on bail.

CrownHeights.info added that ALIYA "declined to comment on the matter in any official capacity."

Judging by his name, the young man is probably Israeli, or Israeli-born.