Video Causes Uproar in Westchester Hamlet

Ammar Morshed said he never thought a mistake made five years ago would come back to haunt him.

“I love America, it’s my second home,” Morshed, 20, said. “I live in the community. I went to school here. I would never say anything bad about this country.”

Morshed, whose family owns the Trails End Deli in Verplanck, is at the center of an uproar that has slowly spiraled throughout the community.

In a YouTube video taken five years ago, Morshed can be seen talking to two customers sitting in a car outside the deli. The customers use profane language and spout anti-American rhetoric during the clip.

Morshed said it was part of a series of videos that were taken to show friends and family members back home in Yemen.

“The people in the video aren’t even Arabic,” Morshed said. “One is Dominican and the other Puerto Rican. They’re the ones saying all that stuff. You can hear it on the video. I try to change the subject and get them to talk about music. I don’t know why they decided to put it out now. They’re just trying to start trouble.”

A link to the video can be found here. The video wasn’t attached to this story due to the explicit language used throughout the clip.

A Facebook group called “Boycott Anti-American Trails End Deli, Verplanck, NY” has already sprung up and has more than 1,700 members. Although no threats of physical harm have been made to workers, a number comments can be found from people expressing outrage

Cortlandt town Supervisor Linda Puglisi said she is aware of the situation, but declined to comment.

“It’s a police matter and the state police are looking into it and monitoring the situation,” Puglisi said. “It’s under investigation and I don’t want to say anything that could impact the investigation.”