Wiesel Weasel Nabbed in New Jersey

The punk who attacked Elie Wiesel in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago was arrested Saturday in New Jersey. As is usually the case, those who know him are shocked.

A Sussex County man who authorities say attacked Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel in San Francisco earlier this month and then fled back to New Jersey was arrested yesterday on several charges, including committing a hate crime.

Friends and former acquaintances of Eric Hunt, 22, of Vernon struggled to reconcile the friendly, bright, articulate young man they remembered with the Holocaust denier, attempted kidnapper and possible Neo-Nazi authorities say he has become.

"I'm stupefied," said Mary Ann Kaicher, who coached Hunt on the debate team at Vernon High School, which he graduated in 2002.

"He was a lovely kid. Very bright, very idealistic," Kaicher said, reacting with shock to the news that Hunt had been charged in the Feb. 1 attack on Wiesel. "He must have gotten in with some crazy people or had a breakdown or something."

Yesterday afternoon, a day after being named by the San Francisco police, Hunt was arrested at the Carrier Clinic, a substance-abuse rehabilitation center in Montgomery Township, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said. He is being held on a fugitive warrant pending extradition to California.

"This was a brutal assault on a man who's dedicated his life to peace," District Attorney Kamala Harris said. "He was viciously attacked for who he is, and we won't stand for that."

More from LGF.