Fort Lauderdale man sentenced to 3 years after attacking postal worker who wore hijab
Two days after Hamas led an Oct. 7, 2023, attack killing more than 1,100 Israelis, a U.S. Postal worker wearing a hijab during her mail deliveries in the Fort Lauderdale area noticed a man give her a menacing look, authorities say.
Two weeks after that encounter, Kenneth Pinkney made threatening remarks and assaulted the postal worker, who was Muslim. In the attack, he ripped off her hijab, according to the FBI.
On Friday, Pinkney, 47, of Fort Lauderdale was sentenced to just over three years in prison by U.S. District Judge Roy Altman in Miami federal court. In April, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal employee, an offense that included a hate-crime enhancement for his punishment, according to federal prosecutor Michael Gilfarb.
Pinkney, who was represented by the Federal Public Defender’s Office, was ordered to surrender to prison authorities after his sentencing.
According to a statement filed with Pinkney’s plea agreement, the postal worker was making routine mail deliveries in her USPS truck on Oct. 24, 2023. After she left her truck to make a delivery, Pinkney approached her on a bicycle and began to pass her.
While still cycling, Pinkney made a hand gesture toward the postal worker in the shape of a firearm using two fingers to represent the barrel of a gun, the statement says. Pinkney then turned his bicycle around and made the firearm gesture again.
Pinkney rode his bicycle directly toward the postal worker, got off and walked toward her. Pinkney called her a “b----” and said, “If I had a gun,” and “go back to your country,” according to the statement.
Pinkney continued to make the same menacing hand gesture, simulating a firearm. At one point, she turned and faced the USPS truck and heard Pinkney say, “Go back to your country” multiple times while tapping her on the back of her head with two fingers.
She entered her postal truck and sat in the driver’s seat. Pinkney continued to call her a “b----” and say “go back to your country.” Pinkney also spit on the image of the eagle on the side of the truck, and then spit on the victim, the statement says.
“The victim was nervous and scared,” according to a Justice Department news release.
Pinkney reached into the truck and pulled at the postal worker’s ankle and leg in an attempt to yank her from the postal truck, the statement says. He then entered the truck and grabbed at her neck with one hand and placed his other hand on her hijab.
Pinkney tried to remove the hijab by pulling it down her face as she resisted, according to the statement. Frustrated, he lifted the hijab up past her face toward the back of her head. He eventually removed the hijab, revealing the victim’s hair.
Pinkney and the victim struggled over the hijab inside the vehicle. He eventually released it, but then started pulling at her USPS apron, the statement says. She put the hijab back on her head. Feeling trapped, she exited the postal truck as Pinkney pursued her.
Pinkney said, “F-- Islam” and “You are a terrorist.”
The two continued to struggle. She grabbed onto the collar of Pinkney’s shirt, and it ripped before Pinkney fled the scene and was later arrested. She had scratches on her face.
The hate-crime assault on the federal employee was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 1:30 PM.
