He was charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment, menacing and harassment as hate crimes.
A Massachusetts man has been charged with hate crime on Thursday after attacking a hijab wearing Muslim airline employee at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport while invoking President Donald Trump’s name, authorities said.
According to a statement from Queens County District Attorney’s office, Robin Rhodes of Worchester, had arrived from Aruba and was awaiting a connection flight to Massachusetts on Wednesday night when he came up to the door of a Delta Airlines office belonging to Rabeeya Khan, who wears a hijab, and asked, “Are you (expletive) sleeping? Are you praying? What are you doing?”
Rhodes then allegedly punched the door, which hit the back of Khan’s chair. Khan asked Rhodes what she had done to him and Rhode replied, “You did nothing but I am going to kick your (expletive) ass,” and kicked her in the right leg.
When another individual came in to calm him down, the 57-year-old Rhodes moved away from the door and Khan ran out of the office. Rhodes followed her, got down on his knees and in a mocking imitation of the Islamic prayer, shouted obscenities and said “Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you. You can ask Germany, Belgium and France about these kind of people. You see what happens.”
According to media reports, Rhodes, at the time of his arrest, allegedly told police, “I guess I am going to jail for disorderly conduct. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman because their back was to me and they had something covering their head.”
He was charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment, menacing and harassment as hate crimes.
“The bigotry and hatred that the defendant is accused of manifesting and acting upon have no place in a civilized society – especially in Queens County, the most culturally diverse county in the nation,” Associated Press quoted Queens district Attorney Richard A Brown. “Crimes of hate will never be tolerated here and when they do, regrettably occur, those responsible will be brought to justice.”