A Muslim cab driver who was attacked because of his religion by a passenger in Manhattan is expected to meet the mayor today.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg invited Ahmed Sharif to visit City Hall today, after police say the cab driver was attacked Tuesday night after picking up 21-year-old Michael Enright at 24th Street and Second Avenue in Gramercy, Manhattan.
Enright is being held without bail after his arraignment on multiple hate crime charges including attempted murder and assault.
Police say Enright was “highly intoxicated” when he got in Sharif’s cab, and after asking if Sharif was Muslim and celebrating Ramadan, Enright slashed the cab driver across the throat, shoulders, arm, hands and lip.
“I saw on his face so much hate and so upset, the anger at me, because of my religion. And it’s a shock to me,” said Sharif.
“[Enright] said Assalamu alaikum [Arabic for ‘Peace be unto you’], and began to stab the driver through the [cab’s] partition,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Authorities say Sharif was able to lock Enright in the back of the cab for a time, but that he escaped out the window. Police noticed the commotion and arrested Enright.
Enright did not enter a plea and is due back in court on Monday.
Police sources told the New York Daily News that when Enright was arrested, he had a diary on him filled with anti-Muslim comments. It is not clear yet whether the diary entries were written by him.
(Source: NY1)
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8 Responses
What is Mayor Bloomberg going to tell him, “I’m sorry”?!?
There is something that smells real funny about this.. never happened until the whole ground zero mosque thing. It’s almost like it was put on to show how oppressed the muslims are.
If Mayor Bloomberg was truly fair, then he would have permitted the Greek Orthodox church right near there to rebuild. But, he has been favoring the Wahhabists behind the Ground Zero mosque. So therefore, this meeting is not truly well meaning.
“What is Mayor Bloomberg going to tell him, “I’m sorry”?!”
Bloomie will blame this on Israel and the Tea Party (he initially blamed the Times SQ csr bomber on “people upset with the health care bill”.)
BTW, the guy who did this has been a volunteer for quite a while at a left-wing group that SUPPORTs the jihadi victory mosque at GZ, so this might be some kind of screwed-up set-up.
When is Bloomy scheduling a meeting with Jews who are attacked because of their religion? Or with the Mexicans being attacked on Staten Island?
Very cute frumimaof3 – After weeks of virulent and racist anti-Muslim hysteria a muslim cab driver gets viciously attacked, and you have the temerity to say “….there is something that smells real funny about this.. never happened until the whole ground zero mosque thing…” Shame.
Pretty soon I’m going to need a bumper sticker that says “Even though I have a black hat and a beard, I’m not a racist” You guys make me sick
galicianer (5) If there were well funded populist rabid and hateful anti-Jewish or anti-Mexican hysteria, the Mayor probably would meet with a Jewish or Mexican victim of a crime like this. But now all the know-nothing nativistic vitriol is being aimed at Muslims – or don’t you see that?
The media line, which assumes Enright’s guilt, demonstrates a political agenda, since the only reason for believing the driver’s account is unsupported trust.
The story smells absurd.
Examples:
* The difficulty of knifing the driver of a moving cab through the partition opening — if it had one. (No media reports show a picture of the cab. Some don’t have a decent sized partition opening.)
* To fight off his attacker the driver would have to turn around, leaving the cab moving uncontrolled in New York rush hour traffic, which is a madhouse.
* In the picture taken in court the next day, the kid has no blood on his shirt despite supposedly knifing Sharif’s neck and struggling with him.
* The driver says he defeated the attack. But how? If he got the knife away from Enright, where’s the knife? if he didn’t, why isn’t he dead?
* The driver claimed the kid threw himself out the window of the fast moving cab when the driver was rushing to the police station, having locked the doors. Meaning the cab had electrical door/window controls, operable from the front. So why didn’t he lock the windows?
* If the kid jumped from a fast moving cab why are his face and shirt unscathed in the court picture?
* In a clearer picture of Sharif, taken during his public appearance with Bloomberg, there is no evidence of any wound to the face, and not even a bandage on his neck. So he healed from this attempted murder in less than 48 hours. Now if only we can find a way to rapidly heal media/Bloomberg demagoguery and provocations.
Jared Israel Emperor’s Clothes