Dahlberg Attorney Releases Statement on Alleged Taxi Cab Assault

The attorney for Ed Dahlberg, the Clifton resident who was charged with assaulting a cab driver on Friday, April 26, released a statement Wednesday denying that his client punched the driver and fractured his jaw. 

The driver, Mohamed Salim of Great Falls, picked up Dahlberg at the Country Club of Fairfax after midnight on Friday. The conversation took a turn when Dahlberg began making aggressive comments against Muslims, and asked Salim to apologize for the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Salim, a US Army veteran, recorded an 11-minute video on his cell phone, portions of which were released by the Washington Post. He claims that Dahlberg compared him to the Boston Marathon bombers and that when Salim stopped recording to call police, Dahlberg knocked the phone out of his hand and fled the scene on foot. 

Salim claims that Dahlberg returned to the cab and punched Salim, fracturing his jaw. Dahlberg denies the claim, and his attorney, Demetry Pikrallidas, released this statement Wednesday: 

"Mr. Dahlberg’s comments to Mr. Salim were regretful, and he apologizes to anyone who found them offensive. Anyone who listens to the entire conversation and views the entire tape will hear that most of the conversation had a friendly tone.  

"Unfortunately, it got emotional as the discussion turned to Jihad and 9/11, and especially heated on the subject of jihadists who want to harm America.  

"Mr. Dahlberg regrets becoming emotional. Like many Americans, 9/11 had a profound impact on Mr. Dahlberg. He certainly didn’t mean to cause offense to Mr. Salim or the Islamic community. Mr. Dahlberg asserts there was no subsequent interaction between the two beyond what was captured on the tape. Further, Mr. Dahlberg did not assault Mr. Salim at any time, nor did he get violent in any way."

• See 

Dahlberg is president of Emerald Aviation, Inc., which he founded in 1995. The Emerald website is currently down, undergoing "scheduled maintenance."

Salim's video of part of the exchange was provided to the Washington Post. The video includes Dahlberg asking if the cab driver is a Muslim, saying:

“If you’re a [expletive] Muslim flying jets into the World Trade Center, then [expletive] you, I will slice your [expletive] throat right now.”

Fairfax County prosecutors are reviewing the video to decide whether to prosecute the case as a hate crime, the Post reported. The charge would be a felony.

“Because I’m a Muslim, he treated me like a piece of trash,” Salim told the Post. “I love this country. I didn’t deserve this.”