Lawyer says alleged NYC cabbie stabber has PTSD

[devilgrrl]

Lawyer says alleged NYC cabbie stabber has PTSD
COLLEEN LONG
From Associated Press
September 13, 2010 3:20 PM EDT

Awesome excuse! :eyes:


NEW YORK (AP) — A student accused of slashing a Muslim taxi driver's neck was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the horrors of the war he witnessed while filming a documentary in Afghanistan, his attorney said Monday.

Michael Enright also suffers from chronic alcoholism and is in need of treatment, which he would get if he were allowed out on $250,000 bail, said attorney Lawrence Fisher.

The 21-year-old Enright is accused of telling the driver to "consider this a checkpoint" before stabbing him last month.

Judge Richard Carruthers said he would wait to decide whether to grant bail until Enright's arraignment Sept. 22 on charges of attempted murder and assault, both as hate crimes. Carruthers ordered him held until then.

Enright, his blond hair disheveled and wearing a loose mock-turtleneck, did not speak during the brief hearing Monday at Manhattan state Supreme Court. He was portrayed as an eager, caring young man; a former Boy Scout and baby sitter; someone with no criminal history who was troubled by haunting images. He lived in suburban Brewster with his parents, who attended the hearing but didn't speak.

"This is not a hate crime in our view," Fisher told the judge.

Fisher said Enright, a would-be senior film student at the School of Visual Arts, traveled to Afghanistan last spring to work on a documentary for a class project after hearing about a friend who had enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was briefly embedded with troops, and his time there disturbed him deeply.

"He wanted to film a documentary that people could ... really know what soldiers were going through in Afghanistan," Fisher said.

When arrested, a drunken Enright was carrying two notebooks that described his experiences there, along with an empty bottle of scotch, police have said. </snip>

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20100913/3d8c7783-38f2-4b5e-b476-68be1af83392

[closeupready]

1. Drunk drivers who have sustained PTSD get no special treatment.

I see no reason to give him special treatment on this basis here, either.

[Swamp Rat]

2. How many combat tours in Afghanistan did Michael Enright participate in?

Sounds to me like the lawyer and Michael Enright are dishonoring the troops who actually engaged in combat.

Michael Enright has no right to claim this. I, and countless others, have seen carnage but have never used it as an excuse to stab someone in the face.

What a piece of shit.

[stray cat]

3. if he had stabbed a police officer would DU be more likely to feel sorry for him?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. This DU you're always bitching about sounds like a horrible place.

I'm sure there are other places in the web more in tune with your sensibilities.

[devilgrrl]

5. If you don't like it here - why don't you leave?

eom

[applegrove]

6. Ptsd is no excuse for anything.