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Cab Driver Slasher Moved To Psych Ward
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Aug 28, 2010
Modified Aug 28, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Aug 28, 2010
Modified Aug 28, 2010
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The 21-year-old SVA student who stabbed cab driver Ahmed Sharif after finding out he was Muslim has been moved to Bellevue Hospital's psychiatric ward from Rikers Island after being evaluated by medical staff. Michael Enright recently spent 35 days in Afghanistan filming a documentary with the Marines, and mentions in his journals that he has a drinking problem and is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. However, the military says Enright showed no signs of trauma with the experience of traveling with combat troops overseas. Col. Hans Bush told the Post, "There was nothing in the packet to indicate (a lack of) robustness to face exposure to our operations."
Enright was reportedly drunk the night he hailed Sharif's cab, and yelled, "Consider this a checkpoint" before slashing Sharif with a Leatherman tool. Sharif survived, but Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance told the Daily News, "I don't think he will be able to go back to work for maybe a month or longer, he's in pretty bad shape."
Enright was a part of a Pentagon program that sponsors 100 journalists every month to cover the war in Afghanistan, but the military says they typically do not conduct background checks on journalists chosen for the program. Bush said, "I have to be pretty candid about this - I don't think that it's our place to make those assessments," and believes it's the journalist's organization's responsibility to make sure he or she is qualified. According to Enright's sponsors, TV Worldwide, he was asked whether or not he had any heart conditions or any other medical conditions.
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