Woman charged with multiple hate crimes

Prosecutors accused Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, of pepper-spraying an Uber driver during an anti-Muslim attack in New York City.

A woman was charged on several counts, including second- and third-degree assault as a hate crime, for pepper-spraying a 45-year-old Uber driver during an unprovoked attack in New York City earlier this year, prosecutors said.

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, was charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment calling second-degree assault a hate crime, third-degree assault a hate crime and second-degree aggravated harassment, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said. Office. Prosecutors accused Guilbeault of spraying an Uber driver during an anti-Muslim attack on the Upper East Side in July.

According to the district attorney’s office, the incident occurred on July 31 at approximately 12:15 p.m. The driver was completing a trip for Guilbeault and another passenger, who was sitting in the back of the vehicle.

The driver began praying in Arabic after stopping at a red light at an intersection, prosecutors said. At that point, prosecutors said Guilbeault “lunged forward toward the driver’s seat, holding a can of pepper spray” and sprayed the driver in the face.

The driver experienced a burning sensation, redness and pain from the pepper spray and called 911 minutes after the attack, the district attorney’s office said. Guilbeault was arrested at the scene.

New York City television station, WPIX, reported in August that Guilbeault was indicted on charges of assault and battery as a hate crime, but denied that the attack was racially motivated.

“As alleged, Jennifer Guilbeault senselessly attacked a Muslim Uber driver while he was simply doing his job,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Monday. “The victim is a hard-working New Yorker who should not have to deal with this kind of hate because of his identity. Everyone is welcome to live and work in Manhattan.”

Pepper spray attack caught on camera

The Uber driver, identified as Shohel Mahmud Through multiple media channelstold CBS New York and WPIX in August that he believed the incident was racially motivated and that he cut back his hours after the attack out of fear for his safety.

CCTV footage obtained by local television stations showed Guilbeault lunging forward and pepper-spraying Mahmud in the eyes. Guilbeault then grabs Mahmud’s arm and pulls him back as he tries to push her away.

Mahmud is seen unbuckling his seat belt and jumping out of the car, but immediately returns as the vehicle moves. He then puts the car in park while the second passenger pulls Guilbeault back.

When the second passenger asked Guilbeault why she attacked the driver, Guilbeault reportedly replied, “He’s brown,” according to the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY).

The country’s largest Islamic civil rights organization condemned the incident

CAIR-NY, a chapter of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., said in a statement Tuesday that they “welcomed” the charges against Guilbeault.

“We welcome the hate crime charges in this case and thank law enforcement authorities for sending a clear message that those who allegedly carry out bias-motivated attacks will face consequences,” CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher said in a statement declaration.

Nasher noted the recent increase in anti-Muslim incidents across the country. According to CAIR, the organization documented 4,951 bias complaints nationwide between January and June of this year – a 69% increase from the same period in 2023.

Earlier this year, CAIR reported that the organization has received the “highest number of complaints ever in its 30-year history” with 8,061 documented complaints in 2023. Nearly half of those complaints were reported in the past three months, following the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza in October 2023.