Murray Hill, Gramercy & Midtown East

Crime & Mayhem

Accused Cabbie Stabber Michael Enright Free on Bail

October 19, 2010 4:43pm | Updated October 20, 2010 6:17am
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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.

Michael Enright leaves jail in lower Manhattan.
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DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

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.

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