The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

A BAHAMIAN man who was slashed in the face during a knife attack in Florida is calling for his attacker to be charged with attempted manslaughter.

Victim Harold Williams said he still doesn’t have any real answers after he was attacked in a sandwich shop in Pembroke Pines on March 16.

“I don’t know what motivated him to attack me, but I watch the news in the United States and I see how black and brown people are treated, and I can’t help but wonder if he stabbed me in the face because of the colour of my skin. I spent nearly an entire week hospitalised because of his hate. Now, I will have a permanent scar on my face to remind me,” said Mr Williams in a press release.

Mr Williams has hired civil rights attorneys Jasmine Rand and Benjamin Crump to represent him.

Mr Crump said black and brown people in the United States deserve the same justice given to every other person.

“We consistently see criminals undercharged when the victim is black. We are going to request a meeting with the prosecutor in the hopes of obtaining some answers; including why the second employee has not been charged with a crime, and why Hassan has not been charged with attempted manslaughter.

“We fought hard for the prosecution of the racist officer that shot and killed our client Corey Jones which led to his historic conviction. We will fight equally as hard to ensure the prosecution does its job in serving justice on Mr Williams’ case.”

Meanwhile, Ms Rand said she believes the second employee shared the same ideological purpose as the man who attacked Mr Williams.

“The fact that a second employee witnessed the stabbing, did nothing to intervene, did not call 911 to seek medical treatment for Mr Williams, threw Mr Williams cell phone at him and told him ‘not to come back,’. . .both employees seemed to believe that it’s ok to stab an innocent black person in the face without provocation or justification,” Ms Rand noted in the press release.

Ms Rand told The Tribune the US issued several travel warnings about The Bahamas and thinks the country has the same obligation to Bahamian visitors to its shores.

She said: “We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this to happen to a Bahamian citizen and that we have to make sure we protect them. And if we are going to issue advisories about The Bahamas, we should issue travel advisories warning brown and black people when they come to the United States, they could become the victim of racial violence.”

Mr Williams, a Bahamasair manager, went into the Pines Market restaurant at 9610 Pines Boulevard earlier this month to use the restroom and was attacked as he walked to the rear of the business. He has described it as an unprovoked attack which left him with a large slash on the side of his face and one of his eyes swollen shut.

A Pembroke Pines Police Department official confirmed to The Tribune that the alleged attacker is Fawaz Hassan, a 24-year-old employee of Pines Market. He was taken into custody following the incident.

Hassan has been charged with one count of causing bodily harm or disability. It is a second-degree felony in Pembroke Pines, Broward County.

An official arrest report from the Pembroke Pines Police Department said the incident happened between 12pm and 12.09pm Saturday, March 16.

Additional notes listed on the report said: “The listed defendant did knowingly and intentionally stab the victim on the left cheek area with a knife against his will causing permanent disfigurement.”