A New York girl who pepper-sprayed a Muslim Uber driver whereas he was praying has been indicted by the Manhattan district legal professional on hate crime prices.
Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, is proven in a surveillance video repeatedly pepper-spraying her Uber driver, Shohel Mahmud. The assault occurred in August on the Higher East Facet of Manhattan, close to the nook of east sixty fifth Avenue and Lexington Avenue, shortly after Mahmud started reciting a prayer in Arabic.
Guilbeault’s fellow passenger, an unnamed girl, is seen making an attempt to forestall her from persevering with the assault.
The driving force known as 911 and Guilbeault was arrested.
Guilbeault was formally charged in a state supreme courtroom indictment “with one depend every of Assault within the Second Diploma as a Hate Crime, Assault within the Third Diploma as a Hate Crime and Aggravated Harassment within the Second Diploma”.
“As alleged, Jennifer Guilbeault senselessly assaulted a Muslim Uber driver whereas he was simply doing his job,” Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district legal professional, mentioned in a assertion. “The sufferer is a hardworking New Yorker who shouldn’t should face one of these hate due to his id. Everyone seems to be welcome to dwell and work in Manhattan, and our Hate Crimes Unit will proceed to deal with bias-motivated assaults by totally investigating and prosecuting instances, conducting group outreach, and supporting victims.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) publicly expressed help for the costs.
We’re conscious of the actions of this former worker and we don’t condone this conduct.
— D. Pagan Comm. (@DPaganComm) August 5, 2024
“We welcome the hate crime prices on this case and thank regulation enforcement authorities for sending a transparent message that those that allegedly perform bias-motivated assaults will face the results,” mentioned Afaf Nasher, the Cair-NY govt director.
Guilbeault’s former employer, the general public relations and advertising and marketing agency D Pagan Communications, wrote on X it’s conscious of her actions and “don’t condone this conduct”.
