Tornado Alley (PROG)

[Alex G]

NYC cabbie slashed after assailant asked, "Are You Muslim?
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/cabbie_stabbed_for_being_muslim_i_feel_very_sad_1.php

The New York City cab driver allegedly stabbed repeatedly by a 21-year-old man who first asked if the driver was Muslim has released a statement through the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, saying "I never feel this hopeless and insecure before."

"I have been here more than 25 years," Ahmed H. Sharif said in a statement. "I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before. Right now, the public sentiment is very serious (because of the Ground Zero Mosque debate.) All drivers should be more careful."

The release went on to describe the way the alleged incident turned violent, saying that the suspect, Michael Enright of Brewster, New York, "started out friendly, asking Mr. Sharif about where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing fast during Ramadan."

He then first became silent for a few minutes and then suddenly started cursing and screaming. There, at about 6:15pm at Third Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets, he yelled, "Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint," and then slashed Mr. Sharif across the neck. As Mr. Sharif went to knock the knife out, the perpetrator, continuing to scream loudly, cut the taxi driver in the face (from nose to upper lip), arm and hand.