Thursday, March 15, 2007
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PORTLAND (AP) - A Portland man who launched a racially charged tirade and physically threatened a Somali cab driver outside a convenience store has been fined $500 and ordered to stay away from the victim, prosecutors said Wednesday.A Superior Court justice ruled Tuesday after a 1½-day hearing that Garrett Powell's actions violated the Maine Civil Rights Act.
The incident happened outside a Big Apple convenience store on Dec. 14, 2004, after Powell's group had been out drinking at his family's restaurant, Tortilla Flats, and at taverns in the Old Port, said Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin.
Powell, 24, became incensed when taxi driver Ali Abdi asked the driver of Powell's cab to move, Robbin said.
The situation deteriorated when a companion of Powell's emerged from the Big Apple, saw the confrontation and pulled out a knife, Robbin said. That man, Charles Frechette, was previously convicted of reckless conduct, she said.
Ali testified that he no longer felt safe in Portland. He's now a college student in the Boston area, she said.
"Like many Somalis, this man had come to our country for a better life and to find sanctuary from the violence of Mogadishu. Instead, he was terrorized by local white men because of his ethnicity and race," Attorney General Steven Rowe said.
Attorney General Steven Rowe said his office won't tolerate threats of violence against minority communities.
Source: AP, Mar 15, 2007