A Florida man who engaged in a hate-motivated assault against a Muslim U.S. Postal Service carrier who was wearing a hijab in October, about two weeks after violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip erupted last year, was sentenced to a little more than three years in federal prison Friday, prosecutors said.
The man, Kenneth Pinkney, 47, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who had pleaded guilty to assault on a federal employee, including a hate crime enhancement, was ordered to serve 37 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said.
A lawyer for Pinkney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
Prosecutors said that the 47-year-old carrier, who was not identified, wore a hijab while delivering mail as she drove a postal truck along her route in Broward County in South Florida.
Pinkney “was looking at her in what she interpreted as an aggressive manner as she drove by him,” prosecutors said.
That happened on Oct. 9, 2023, two days after Hamas mounted a surprise attack against Israel and prompted an intense retaliation.
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About two weeks later, as the carrier was near her delivery truck, Pinkney approached her on a bicycle and made a hand gesture in the shape of a firearm, prosecutors said.
Pinkney then walked toward the carrier and told her, “Go back to your country,” multiple times, according to prosecutors.
After she returned to the truck, Pinkney called her a derogatory slur and spat on her and on the image of an eagle on the side of the vehicle, according to prosecutors.
Pinkney then reached into the truck and pulled at her ankle and leg in “an unsuccessful attempt to yank her” from the truck, prosecutors said.
He then entered the truck and grabbed her neck with one hand and placed his other hand on her hijab, which he pulled off, according to prosecutors. They struggled inside the vehicle and the postal worker was eventually able to put her hijab back on.
Pinkney told her, “You are a terrorist.” She sustained scratches on her face as a result of the attack, authorities said. Pinkney fled the scene and was later arrested.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times. c.2024 The New York Times Company
