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NY Man Charged With Stabbing Muslim Cabbie In Hate Crime Incident

08/25/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
At what point do words and rhetoric from someone like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich or Glenn Beck become actions from another.  The New York Police Department have charged a man with attempted murder and other crimes after he stabbed NY cabbie Ahmed H. Sharif in the throat, right arm, left fore arm, right thumb and upper lip.  The alleged attacker, Michael Enright, was a passenger in the cab, and supposedly asked the cabbie if he was Muslim.

According to Detective Marc Nell, Enright was picked up by Sharif at the intersection of 24th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.  The cab then drove north, and Enright, 21, then asked Sharif, a 43 year old Asian man, if he was Muslim.  After Sharif responded, Enright is then alleged to have stabbed the driver repeatedly with a Leatherman tool.

Sharif than called 911, and stopped the cab on 3rd Avenue between 40th and 41st streets.  Sharif managed to get Enright locked inside the back until police arrived.  Sharif is in stable condition.  Enright has been charged with  “attempted murder two as a hate crime, assault with a weapon as a hate crime, aggravated harassment second degree because of race and religion, and criminal possession of a weapon.”

Sharif has released a statement through the New York Taxi Workers Alliance stating “I never feel this hopeless and insecure before.  I feel very sad.  I have been here more than twenty-five years.  I have been driving a taxi more than fifteen years.  All of my kids were born here.”

Allan Fromberg, a spokesman for the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, has not been able to release a statement yet though he has confirmed that the Commission is aware of the incident.

According to one anonymous police source, Enright was ‘very drunk’ at the time.

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