Muslim taxi driver slashed in attack blamed on interfaith group volunteer to visit NYC mayor

Slashed Muslim taxi driver to visit NYC mayor

NEW YORK — Michael Enright once volunteered with a group that promotes interfaith tolerance and has supported a proposal for a mosque near ground zero — an experience distinctly at odds with what authorities say happened inside a city taxi.

The baby-faced college student was charged Wednesday with using a folding knife to slash the neck and face of the taxi’s Bangladeshi driver after the driver said he was Muslim. Enright was so drunk and incoherent when he was arrested that he was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.

He was later taken to court and remained jailed without bail Thursday on hate crime charges. He was found with two composition-style notebooks on him that were being examined Thursday, police said. Their contents were unclear.

A taxi drivers’ labor group quickly used the attack to denounce “bigotry” over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks north of ground zero, while a leading Islamic group claimed a recent increase in anti-Muslim attacks since the controversy began.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch supporter of the mosque project, invited the taxi driver to visit City Hall on Thursday.

“This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe no matter what god we pray to,” the mayor said in a statement.

Enright uttered “Assalamu aleikum,” Arabic for “Peace be upon you,” and told the driver, “Consider this a checkpoint,” before attacking him Tuesday night inside the yellow cab in Manhattan, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

A judge ordered Enright, 21, held without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault as hate crimes and weapon possession. The handcuffed defendant, wearing a polo shirt and cargo shorts, did not enter a plea during the brief court appearance.

Besides a serious neck wound, cabbie Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, suffered cuts to his forearms, his face and one hand while trying to fend off Enright, prosecutor James Zeleta said while arguing against bail.

Defense attorney Jason Martin told the judge his client was an honors student at the School of Visual Arts, had volunteered in Afghanistan and lives with his parents in suburban Brewster, N.Y.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group, condemned the attack and said that anti-Islam sentiment has bubbled up with new fervor amid the debate about the downtown mosque, and that it’s leading to more bias incidents.

In addition to the cab driver stabbing, in recent days a mosque in Madera, Calif., has been vandalized.

A man also stormed a Queens mosque, shouting at worshippers and urinating on prayer rugs, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. New York police said that they don’t believe it was bias-related and that the suspect didn’t know he was at a mosque.

Gov. David Paterson said Thursday that the cabbie stabbing “should certainly compel us to remembering … this is what terrorists really want. That we are now fighting each other, this is making their day.”

A representative for the volunteer group where Enright worked, Intersections International, called the situation “tragic.”

“We’ve been working very hard to build bridges between folks from different religions and cultures,” said the Rev. Robert Chase. “This is really shocking and sad for us.”

The group, founded in 2007, says it’s dedicated to promoting justice, reconciliation and peace among people of different faiths, cultures, ideologies, races and classes.

A trailer for Enright’s school film, “Home of the Brave,” was excerpted on the group’s website. Enright followed his former high school classmate, Cpl. Alex Eckner, and his Army unit through basic training in Hawaii and their deployment to Afghanistan.

The film, set for release in 2011, shows soldiers training with weapons in a pool, running in formation and celebrating birthdays and Christmas while in basic training.

“You can’t not be scared, that helps you operate,” one soldier says in the trailer. “It helps you do your job.”

Sharif, who has driven a cab for 15 years, was quoted in a news release from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance as saying the attack left him shaken.

“I feel very sad,” he said. With the tension over the mosque, he added, “All drivers should be more careful.”

Enright hailed the cab around 6 p.m. Tuesday, police Deputy Inspector Kim Royster said.

Sharif told authorities that during the trip Enright asked him whether he was Muslim. When he said yes, Enright pulled out a weapon — believed to be a tool with a blade called a Leatherman — and attacked him, Royster said.

After the assault, the driver tried to lock Enright inside the cab and drive to a police station, police said. The attacker jumped out a rear window about 15 blocks from where he hailed the cab, they said.

An officer there noticed the commotion, found Enright slumped on a sidewalk and arrested him.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Deepti Hajela, Sara Kugler Frazier and researcher Barbara Sambriski in New York, and Michael Gormley in Albany, N.Y.

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Link to Enright film: tinyurl.com/26p2rua