By Michael Ventura and Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — The man accused of stabbing a Muslim cab driver in an alleged hate crime was released on bail Tuesday afternoon.
Michael Enright, 21, a documentary filmmaker who studied at the School of Visual Arts and recently returned from Afghanistan, was released on $500,000 bail after his parents put up their upstate home as part of the payment.
He was required to wear a tracking bracelet on his ankle and obey an 8 p.m. curfew as a conditions of his release.
He did not speak to reporters after he left State Supreme Court with his mother on Tuesday.
Enright was charged with attempted murder as a hate crime back in August for allegedly slashing the throat of cab driver Ahmed Sharif after a night of drinking.
A "highly intoxicated" Enright hailed a cab at East 24th Street and Second Avenue on Aug. 25, authorities said, before he asked Sharif, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi man who lives in Queens, "Are you Muslim?"
He then pulled out a Leatherman knife and stabbed Sharif repeatedly, slashing his throat, prosecutors said.
When Enright was arrested, he told police he was a "patriot," according to court documents.
Enright has pleaded not guilty. He faces 8 years in prison if convicted.