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”.
I’m glad she’s been indicted for a hate crime, but will Uber compensate the driver in any way? Of course not. He’s not an employee!
And if you click through to the surveillance video article, you see this:
Mahmud acknowledged the ordeal has hurt him financially, as he is the breadwinner of his family who currently lives in Bangladesh.
Good decision.
This story reminds me a lot of a cornerstore Deli in the ghetto side of (capital city of southern state).
It is run by a Bengali dude with two Arab cooks and an African American local. The name is likely ripped from a famous NY sandwich shop, but no one actually knows that.
The Arabs make most of the sandwiches and the African American specializes in salads.
You’ll usually find the two Arabs reciting out loud while they cook, everyone seems to know everyone, and the Bengali is running the cash register and rejecting phony bills.
The outside looks like a crackhouse warzone but the inside is an oasis lol. Always busy with people buying food or cornerstore items.
Objectively the best place in the city to get a philly sub, but you’ll never see anyone mention it outside of the ghetto area.
Point being that if someone asked me what defines America, I’d probably point to that place.
Imagine being so fearful that someone praying in another language triggers you to pepper spray them. What is wrong with people?
I guess I’d be irritated if I had to listen to prayer for my ride, but I think my worst reaction would be retracting a star or two.
Yayyyy.
🤔 about the second part.
Did he just randomly start chanting and she freaked out? Why didn’t the just start praying during a fare?
Praying is not chanting. Somehow I doubt a Catholic saying a hail Mary would have ellicited the same response. It appears the DA agrees.
As to what happened, he was driving the car with the two passengers in the back seat. The driver and passengers were not talking to each other, or otherwise interacting. Video linked in the article shows her suddenly lunging towards him and spraying him in the face with pepper spray at point blank range.
Her friend tries to pull her off of him. He then tries to get out of the car, while she keeps spraying him, where he calls 911 and she’s arrested.
Wait… your description doesn’t include any praying either. Did he pray or not? It just looks like an attack.
It would make me uncomfortable if someone just started audibly praying while driving me though. Given the tone I might even take it as a threat on my life, if I felt like it was some “last rights” or “give me strength” shit that made me feel like they were about to off themselves with me in the car.
The solution would absolutely not be to pepper spray the driver though. That can only make my fears a reality.
Given the tone I might even take it as a threat on my life
That is an unhinged and deranged level of xenophobia.
Someone speaks foreign language
“Gasp! My life in in danger. I have been personally threatened.”
Making shit up online is fun. Strawman arguments don’t convince anyone of anything though just makes you look like a tool.
Islam is the 2nd largest religion on Earth. It’s not some piddly minority. When people are being weird Muslims it’s okay to call them out the same way there are hella weird Christians and Jews. I would say NOT doing so and handling a particular groups weirdos with kids gloves is just as xenophobic (but obviously not as harmful) as attacking someone for being different.
You’re basically saying they are less human than you and therefor should be excused from behaving normally in the society they are a part of, like they were a small child.
with kids gloves
*kid gloves
They’re called kid gloves because they’re made from baby goat.
The leather from baby goats is soft and supple and gives you more dexterity than normal leather gloves. If you were handling something that needed great care, you might want to wear kid gloves to have greater manual control.
Why would you handle someone with kids’ gloves? Are your hands very tiny?
You’re basically saying they are less human than you and therefor should be excused from behaving normally in the society they are a part of
There’s nothing abnormal about speaking a foreign language or praying. For all you know, he could have been praying for a safe journey.
(Or praying for the endurance to put up with a shitty passenger.)
Read my responses for the answer, pedant.
There is something abnormal about praying in a workplace. They shouldn’t be attacked, but it’s also not normal. I don’t care what religion they’re a part of, it would be strange regardless.
Removed by mod
Explain. There is no xenophobia in my comment. Which “other” am I referring to? Lemmy trolls pearl clutching again. Get real.
Muslim man: *prays*
You: “I TAKE THAT AS A THREAT ON MY LIFE!”
Ain’t got a problem with Muslims. Got a problem with audibly praying while you’re driving me. Just like I’d have a problem with you having an intimate personal phone call with me in the car.
I sincerely hope you do not own any pepper spray.
Then you shouldn’t be a taxi/Uber/etc driver.
He apprently was praying when she attacked him. Being Muslim, he needs to pray several times a day to stay devout. It’s likely he was reciting one of those prayers.
It looks clear that he was speaking in Arabic and she took that to mean that he should be viciously attacked. It’s unlikely she knew it was a prayer, so your religious fears above likely dont apply.
Hmm bad Muslim then, as I’m lead to believe from all the Muslims friends I have. You specifically don’t need to pray while traveling. Actively driving would obviously qualify.
I’m not going to speak to whether he was required to pray in that instance or not, but the fact remains she heard Arabic from a Muslim man and attacked him.
I assume him being a “bad Muslim” in your eyes doesn’t excuse the attack, right?
I already said it was wrong. Just because someone is a victim doesn’t make their behavior also not wrong though. There’s a time and a place for religious behavior.
So according to you praying randomly is bad religious behavior? Maybe he’s going through something and a silent prayer gives him relief.
Wait… your description doesn’t include any praying either. Did he pray or not? It just looks like an attack.
Are you actually trying to argue that praying is justification for pepper spraying someone?
It would make me uncomfortable if someone just started audibly praying while driving me though. Given the tone I might even take it as a threat on my life, if I felt like it was some “last rights” or “give me strength” shit that made me feel like they were about to off themselves with me in the car.
What a completely unhinged fantasy world you live in where everyone who prays is out to kill you. What a hateful person you are.
Nope didn’t argue either of those things. You’ve just made that up.
They quoted you, lol
And added some of their own commentary
Yes, with their own interpretation afterwords. What he quoted was me giving examples of things that would concern me, not a recitation of the events of the article.
One of the ways your average literate person could know that was by the way I didn’t cite the article in any way or the fact that I was describing circumstances with examples unrelated to the Muslim faith.
The first portion quoted was a response to someone saying he was praying and then when recounting the story they made no mention of praying. I asked for clarification because they literally excuded the information they implied was present. Then Lemmy started hallucinating.
