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”.
You said:
Those people are right. You are xenophobic against certain religions and cultures, and demand that people conceal their identities around you. By making this point in defense of a woman who pepper sprayed a man for praying, you’re making it abundantly clear that you think violence is an acceptable response to seeing another person pray. You’ve also suggested that praying is somehow a warning sign of violence, which given the fact that the victim in this story was Muslim, clearly reflects what you think of Muslims and their faith.
You’ve jumped to conclusions. My statements weren’t in defense of her actions, they were an example of what it would take to make me concerned for my safety which was not present if the facts given. To rephrase:
“If someone started acting suicidal, or like someone was going to die, while driving the car I’m in, I’d fear for my life.”
You know how people pontificate online about what it would take to make someone’s crazy behavior happen? And to express where you might draw the line in a similar but still hypothetical situation? Yeah that’s all this was.
There’s no hate for any particular religion within me, besides the generic atheist dislike for extremists that harm others.