NEW YORK CITY, NY – A passenger who pepper-sprayed a Muslim Uber driver and was fired from her PR job and charged with a hate crime has denied it was a hate crime, according to the New York Post.
“Manhattan College graduate Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, had just started a promising career at a New York public relations firm when she was caught on dashcam springing forward to spray her rideshare driver in July, horrifying the pal who was with her,” wrote the Post.
Jennifer Guilbeault’s employer, D. Pagan Communications in Melville, fired her over the shocking incident, the Post said, adding agency President Debra Pagan confirmed to PR Weekly Guilbeault had left the firm without saying when she had left.
“We are aware of the actions of this former employee and we don’t condone this behavior,” the company, which specializes in PR for tech companies, said on X in August.
The New York Post wrote, “Guilbeault, a native of Northbridge, Mass., earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations, advertising and applied communication at the Bronx university, where she also served as the VP social chair for her sorority, Sigma Delta Tau, according to an online profile.”
According to the Post story, “Guilbeault was riding in the backseat with the other woman around 12:15 a.m. when she suddenly sprayed the noxious substance in the 45-year-old driver’s eyes, according to a viral clip circulating online.
“The driver, Shohel Mahmud, later claimed that Guilbeault launched her assault simply because of his skin color. He said he hadn’t spoken at all to the women when he picked them up near Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street in Midtown.”
“Her friend, she is yelling, ‘Jen, Jen, what the f–k, what are you doing? What’s going on?’” Mahmud told The Post days after the attack. “Her friend is asking, ‘Why did you do that?’ And she says, ‘He’s brown.’”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Guilbeault “attacked the driver when he began praying in Arabic just as he approached a red light, and she was indicted in New York State Supreme Court on two counts of assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment for the Upper East Side attack,” wrote the Post.
