NEW YORK – A medal-decorated hero Muslim NY police officer and her son became victims to the city’s latest hate crime after a bigot attacked them, yelling at their face to go back to their country.
The attack occurred in Brooklyn when officer Aml Elsokary, who was off duty and wearing her hijab, dropped off her 16-year-old on Ridge Blvd. and 67th St. in Bay Ridge just before 6 pm, New York Daily News reported on Sunday, December 4.
After parking her car, she returned to the scene to find her son being shoved by the suspect, a white man in his 30s.
When the officer, a native New Yorker, approached, the man said, “ISIS (expletive), I will cut your throat, go back to your country!”
Elsokary did not identify herself as a police officer, and was unarmed.
Officer Elsokary proudly wears her hijab on duty in the 90th Precinct.
New York mayor touted her as a hero after she ran into a burning building to save an elderly man and baby girl in April 2014.
But “Officer Elsokary was a hero long before that remarkable day,” said Mayor de Blasio at a 2014 dinner at Gracie Mansion celebrating Ramadan Iftar, the end of the annual Ramadan fast.
The decorated officer had joined the force shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to “show people that the terrible acts of that day contradicted the teachings of Islam,” the mayor said.
“As both a Muslim and a native New Yorker, she knew she needed to get involved,” de Blasio said.
The mother-of-five received a medal for her bravery.
Saturday’s incident became the latest in a growing list of bias crimes across the city since Trump’s election.
On Thursday night, three drunk white men repeatedly screamed “Donald Trump!” and hurled anti-Islam slurs at Baruch College student waiting for a No. 6 train at 23rd St. and Park Ave.
On the campaign trail, the president-elect had promised to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
He later backed off from a complete ban, saying his proposal would keep immigrants from countries that have been “compromised by terrorism.”
The surprising election of Donald Trump as America’s 45th president is having its negative impact on American Muslims.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there have been more than 200 incidents of harassment and intimidation since Trump was elected. Many were directed toward African Americans, immigrants, Muslims and the LGBT community.