Salon.com > Michael Enright

NYC cabbie-slash suspect is taken to psych ward

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:51:46 +0000

The college student accused of slashing a taxi driver because he's a Muslim has been taken to a New York City psychiatric ward.

Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello says Michael Enright, of Brewster, N.Y., was taken from the Rikers Island jail to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday night.

Authorities say Enright uttered an Arabic phrase before slashing Sharif's face and neck Tuesday night.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg met Thursday at City Hall with the Bangladeshi driver, Ahmed H. Sharif.

Bloomberg says it's impossible to know the motive but connected the attack to the debate about an Islamic center planned near ground zero.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says authorities do not believe the attack signifies a trend in anti-Muslim crimes.

Bloomberg tries to calm NYC after cabbie stabbing

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:39:00 +0000

A Muslim cab driver whose face and throat were slashed in a suspected hate crime attack appeared with Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday as city officials sought to ease tensions in the debate over a plan to put a mosque near the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, investigators sought to unravel contradictions in the life of the suspect, a baby-faced college student who had traveled to Afghanistan with a group that seeks to promote interfaith understanding.

The Bangladeshi driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, said the proposed mosque and Islamic center north of the World Trade Center site did not come up in his conversation with the passenger who allegedly used a folding knife to slash Sharif's neck and face after asking whether he was a Muslim.

"Of course it was for my religion. He attacked me after he knew I was a Muslim," Sharif said at a news conference at City Hall.

Bloomberg said it is impossible to know the motive of the attack. But he made a pointed connection to the debate about the planned Islamic center, which has ignited intense emotions worldwide.

"This should never have happened and hopefully won't happen again," Bloomberg said. "Hopefully, people will understand that we can have a discourse. That's what the First Amendment is all about. That's what America is all about."

Michael Enright, cabbie-stabber, had “anti-Muslim” diary

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:01:00 +0000

Michael Enright, the raging drunk who nearly killed a Muslim cab-driver in Manhattan this week, is being held without bail following his arraignment on hate crime charges. Enright, a film student, is finishing a documentary about Marines serving in Afghanistan, where he was embedded earlier this year for 35 days.

Enright stabbed the man after an apparently civil conversation about the driver's Muslim faith. Then Enright allegedly yelled, "This is the checkpoint," and slashed the drivers throat and arm.

According to friends, Enright was usually kind and mild-mannered. He volunteered with Intersections International, a liberal organization dedicated to religious tolerance and peace.

"The person who volunteered for us is a really good guy," Intersections International executive director Rev. Robert Chase told the media. "He's responsible, he's been generous, he's concerned about the issues in the world."

Meet the New York cabbie-stabber

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:01:00 +0000

[Updated] The man who allegedly stabbed a cab driver after learning that the driver was a Muslim is Michael Enright, a 21-year-old filmmaker from upstate New York. Enright -- who shoots video for a New York-based peace group that counts Cordoba Initiative as one of its partners -- has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime, and police say he was "very, very intoxicated" when he got in the cab at 6 p.m. last night.

The New York Post says Enright "recently returned from Afghanistan," and adds details -- provenance completely unknown -- to the story:

At one point, Enright said, "Al salaam aalaykum" -- the Arabic greeting meaning, "Peace upon you."

[Driver Sharif] Ahmed replied, "Wa alaikum salaam" -- meaning, "And on you be peace!"

As the cab neared east 41st Street, about a block away from Enright's destination at 42nd Street and Third Avenue, he barked, "This is the checkpoint motherf---er. I have to f--- you up this time."