NYC cabbie-slash suspect is taken to psych ward
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/0827/nyc-cabbieslash-suspect-psych-ward/A college student accused of slashing a taxi driver because he is a Muslim was moved from jail to a psychiatric ward, corrections officials said Friday.
Michael Enright, 21, of Brewster, N.Y., was accused of using a folding knife to slash the face and neck of the driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, an immigrant from Bangladesh, on Tuesday night after asking whether he's a Muslim. Enright was moved from the Rikers Island jail to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday night, said Correction Department spokesman Stephen Morello.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said authorities see the attack as an isolated incident rather than evidence of a trend in anti-Muslim crimes.
Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, who teaches politics and public administration at Dhaka University in Bangladesh, said the assault was at odds with American values.
"We worry more because there are many Bangladeshi taxi drivers in America," he said. "They behave as patriotic American nationals more than they consider themselves Muslims or Bangladeshis. Such violence against them is not desirable, and we believe all believing in democracy and liberty will condemn it."