By Constance Guindon
By Constance Guindon
Toronto – After what witnesses are describing as a shocking display of hate, a 57-year-old man was kicked off a Delta flight after allegedly assaulting a female Muslim airport employee.
The Daily News New York, is reporting that Robin Rhodes, was waiting for a connecting flight to Massachusetts after returning to the U.S. from a trip to Aruba. While waiting he verbally and physically assaulted a female Muslim airport employee as she sat working in her office.
The same source said that, seeing a woman wearing an hijab, sitting in an office in the Airport Lounge, Rhodes approached her and began verbally harassing her. Through the closed office door, he said to her “Are you f…g sleeping? Are you praying? What are you doing?”
According to Queens County District Attorney, Richard Brown, Rhodes then punched the office door, causing it to bang into the back of Rabeeya Khan’s chair. When she asked him what she had done to him, he replied “You did nothing, but I’m going to kick your f…g a…” It was at this point, Brown says, that Rhodes kicked Khan in her right leg.
According to the Daily News report, Rabeeya Khan then made an attempt to leave her office, only to have her way blocked by her assailant. When a witness intervened, Khan ran away. Rhodes, followed her, falling to his knees in mock prayer, saying “F..k Islam, f..k ISIS.” Rhodes followed this up with “Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you.”
It was at this point, the Daily News reports, that authorities intervened and Rhodes was arrested. He has been charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment and menacing and harassment as hate crimes.
District for Queens County, known as the most culturally diverse country in the United States, Brown could only describe the incident as wholly “inexcusable.”
