Disturbing video footage has emerged of a moment when a wild-eyed woman brutally attacked a New York City Uber driver with pepper spray, allegedly “because of the color of his skin.”
The disturbing video, which went viral on social media, showed Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, using pepper spray in an unprovoked attack on the driver, 45-year-old Shohel Mahmud, during a nighttime drive in Midtown Manhattan.
The attack happened around 11:20 p.m. Tuesday evening near Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street.
The shocking footage shows Guilbeault stepping into the driver’s seat and pepper spraying Mahmud.
Disturbing video footage has captured the moment a wild-eyed woman brutally attacked an Uber driver in New York City with pepper spray, allegedly ‘because of the color of his skin’
The disturbing video, which went viral on social media, showed Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, using pepper spray in an unprovoked attack on the driver, 45-year-old Shohel Mahmud, during a nighttime drive in Midtown Manhattan.
The attack happened around 11:20 p.m. Tuesday night near Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street
Mahmud tried desperately to escape the attack, at one point even jumping out of the moving vehicle, thinking it was a robbery.
But as the car continued to move, he got back in and was attacked relentlessly.
Her friend can then be heard screaming, “Jen, Jen, Jen! Why did you do that?”
Mahmud, a father of three from Queens, picked up Guilbeault and a friend in Midtown for what was supposed to be a routine trip.
Mahmud revealed what he remembered of the terrifying incident and what the alleged motive was behind the unprovoked attack.
“Her friend, she’s screaming, ‘Jen, Jen, what the f–k, what are you doing? What’s going on?'” Mahmud told the New York Post. Her friend asks, ‘Why did you do that?’ And she says, ‘He’s brown.’
“They’re talking to each other,” he told The Post. “I’m not talking to them, my job is to drive them. I start driving straight down the Central Park Traverse, straight down to 65th and Lexington. All of a sudden this girl pepper-sprays me for no reason.”
Mahmud, a father of three from Queens, had picked up Guilbeault and a friend in Midtown for what was supposed to be a routine trip
Police quickly arrived on the scene and arrested Guilbeault on charges of third-degree assault. However, she was later released on a bond and an unspecified court date has been set.
“I mean, this is completely ridiculous,” he said. “I’m not doing anything and she’s spraying me. Pepper spray is illegal. She’s attacking a driver for no reason. This is a hate crime.”
Police quickly arrived on the scene and arrested Guilbeault on suspicion of third-degree assault.
But she was later released on suspicion of interrogation and her trial has not yet officially started.
Authorities are not currently investigating the incident as a hate crime, despite Mahmud’s claims that it was racially motivated.