Council on American Islamic Relations wants to see case prosecuted as a hate crime
By Matthew Barakat
Associated Press
McLEAN, Va. (AP) — For the second time in as many months, a Muslim civil rights group is pursuing criminal charges on behalf of a taxicab driver who was subjected to an anti-Islamic rant caught on tape.
In the most recent case, an Ashburn, Va., woman unleashed a string of expletives and called 911 to report that she was afraid for her life because she said her cabbie, Abdikar Aden of Alexandria, was “very Muslim.”
Aden says the woman also poked him repeatedly in the back of his shoulder, though that part of the confrontation was not captured in a recording provided to The Associated Press.
The Council on American Islamic Relations, which is representing Aden, wrote Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh on Tuesday asking his office to prosecute the case.
“(T)he assault is made even more deplorable because it was based on Mr. Aden’s faith alone,” wrote CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas.
The woman, identified in a police report as Jennifer Crabbe, did not return multiple phone calls this week. Aden said he was called to The Capital Grille steakhouse in Tysons Corner in the late-night hours on April 23 to pick up two passengers headed to Ashburn, about 20 miles away. He said the female passenger, Crabbe, was angry from the start because a $17 fare had already accumulated while Aden says he waited for 50 minutes for his passengers to come out. But Aden said that both a restaurant employee and the woman’s male companion had asked him to stay and keep the meter running while they concluded their evening in the restaurant.
During the ride, Aden said, the woman assumed that he was a Muslim and said that all Muslims come to the U.S. and serve as taxi drivers for a year to save money so they can blow themselves up.
Aden said that when Crabbe started poking him in the shoulder and threatened to have him deported, he pulled over to the side of the road and called 911.
After Aden called 911, Crabbe decided to call 911 herself, and that is when Aden recorded Crabbe’s diatribe. Crabbe says the word “Muslim” 10 times on the four-minute recording, telling a dispatcher, “Oh, he is Muslim, so I’m a little afraid,” then describing him as “very Muslim” and later saying, “I have some Muslim guy, which I am very scared, who is our taxi driver, who’s pulled over, and I’m afraid.” Interspersed are multiple obscenities directed at Aden, including more than a dozen uses of the F-word.
All the while, Crabbe’s companion tries to calm her, telling her that Aden is “a good guy.”
“This guy’s Muslim. Are you kidding me? Muslim. He’s not a good guy,” she says to her companion.
