Man Sentenced to 9½ Years in ’10 Attack on Cabdriver
Pool photo by Steven Hirsch
Michael Enright pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault, both as hate crimes, in an attack on a Muslim taxi driver.
By RUSS BUETTNER
Published: June 25, 2013
Nearly three years ago, Michael Enright asked a taxi driver if he was a Muslim. When the driver answered yes, Mr. Enright yelled Muslim-based insults and lunged through the partition with a knife, stabbing and slashing away.
The attack shocked New York, drawing condemnations from Muslim groups and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who invited the cabby to visit him in City Hall.
For Mr. Enright, the vicious assault left only the prospect of a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence, which he accepted on Tuesday as he offered his apologies.
“I failed in every aspect of my life during the active days of my alcoholism,” Mr. Enright, a former college film student, said. “Most importantly, on Aug. 24, 2010, the date of my last drink, I failed as a human being when I attacked an innocent man in an alcoholic blackout and nearly took his life.”
Mr. Enright, 24, hailed a taxi that night on East 24th Street. It was driven by Ahmed H. Sharif, who suffered stab and slash wounds to the throat, face, arms and hands.
Mr. Sharif did not come to State Supreme Court in Manhattan for Mr. Enright’s sentencing, but an assistant district attorney read a statement from him saying that he and his family were still shocked by what had happened. Mr. Sharif, a father of four who came to the city from Bangladesh nearly 30 years ago, wrote that he had tried to return to taxi driving, but memories of the attack caused a high blood pressure condition.
“It was the end of being a taxi driver in my life,” Mr. Sharif said in the statement. “And a lot of things happened that made my life very hard, all because of this.”
Mr. Enright pleaded guilty two weeks ago to attempted murder and assault, both as hate crimes. His lawyer, Lawrence M. Fisher, said outside of court that his client had a history of alcoholism since childhood, and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from an attack he witnessed while in Afghanistan working on a film about the Marines stationed there.
Mr. Enright, wearing khaki pants and a green sweater, said the attack was a horrible way to “hit rock bottom.” He thanked Justice Richard D. Carruthers for allowing him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while he was out on bail.
“My name is Michael Enright, and I’m a grateful alcoholic,” he said.
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