Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, shown on video assaulting Shohel Mahmud after he began reciting prayer in Arabic

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, shown on video assaulting Shohel Mahmud after he began reciting prayer in Arabic

A New York woman who pepper-sprayed a Muslim Uber driver while he was praying has been indicted by the Manhattan district attorney on hate crime charges.

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, is shown in a surveillance video repeatedly pepper-spraying her Uber driver, Shohel Mahmud. The assault took place in August on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, near the corner of east 65th Street and Lexington Avenue, shortly after Mahmud began reciting a prayer in Arabic.

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Guilbeault’s former employer, the public relations and marketing firm D Pagan Communications, wrote on X it is aware of her actions and “don’t condone this behavior”.

  • stoly@lemmy.world
    165·
    2 months ago

    There are people asking questions and there are people “asking questions” in an attempt to derail debate.

    • NeilBrü@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 months ago

      Honest question: what is up for debate regarding the case? I think all the facts are clear, no?

      • stoly@lemmy.world
        71·
        2 months ago

        That’s correct, which is where my comments comes from. They aren’t curious about the definition of a hate crime, they are trying to insert doubt while feigning ignorance.

        • NeilBrü@lemmy.world
          32·
          2 months ago

          Again, with sincerity: did the woman who perpetrated the assault or her attorney give any public statement re: her motive? I saw in the video linked to the article said that the attorney, when asked by this reporter, had no comment. Was there anything ever released or documented about why she snapped?

          What I’m getting at is did she attack him for being a man, a muslim, or a muslim and a man?

          Furthermore, it’s not clear to me if she’s being charged with “vanilla” assault and battery or if there’s a hate crime charge on top of it. This may be my own fault for reading too quickly.

          Nevermind that. I re-read the aricle.

          Guilbeault was officially charged in a state supreme court indictment “with one count each of Assault in the Second Degree as a Hate Crime, Assault in the Third Degree as a Hate Crime and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree”.