Suspect in Muslim cabbie attack taken to psych ward

(AP) - A college student accused of slashing a taxidriver because he is a Muslim was moved from jail to a psychiatricward, corrections officials said Friday. Michael Enright, 21, of Brewster, was accused

News 12 Staff

May 22, 2014, 7:27 PM

Updated 3,718 days ago

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(AP) - A college student accused of slashing a taxidriver because he is a Muslim was moved from jail to a psychiatricward, corrections officials said Friday. Michael Enright, 21, of Brewster, was accused of using afolding knife to slash the face and neck of the driver, Ahmed H.Sharif, an immigrant from Bangladesh, on Tuesday night after askingwhether he's a Muslim. Enright was moved from the Rikers Islandjail to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday night, said CorrectionDepartment spokesman Stephen Morello. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said it wasn't clear why hehad been moved. Kelly said authorities see the attack as anisolated incident rather than evidence of a trend in anti-Muslimcrimes. Investigators obtained a warrant to search Enright's sixjournals, but did not find any anti-Muslim statements. Kellydescribed the journals as a chronicle of his time in Afghanistan.Enright traveled there in April on a trip he took as part of asenior video project he was doing at the School of Visual Arts. Aspart of the work, Enright spent time embedded with U.S. troops. The handwriting was difficult to decipher, and Kelly saidofficials have not done an in-depth analysis of the journals, butthe cursory look did not reveal a motive or a deep-rooted racism. The journals do, however, detail Enright's drinking, and therewas some indication that he had been in Alcoholics Anonymous, Kellysaid. But it hasn't yet been determined if he has a seriousdrinking problem. Police said he was drunk at the time of theattack.


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