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.

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”.

  • the_crotch
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    24 days ago

    Per the first amendment, that time and place are whenever and wherever you want. I’d assume that applies to inside of your own damn car.

    • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      Not when your car is your workplace. We’ve seen what happens when people are allowed to practice their religion however they please. Being 2 feet away from someone in a moving vehicle that you’ve paid for transportation in is not appropriate. We’ve learned the 1st amendment doesn’t permit you to practice your religion under whatever circumstances you wish. ALSO the law should never be used as a barometer for right and wrong. We often hope it aligns but far too often we see it does not.