HijabCalif. Muslim woman sues Long Beach police for forcibly removing her headscarf
Kirsty Powell, an African American Muslim woman, has on Monday sued the police in California, charging that her headscarf, which she was wearing for religious reasons, was forcibly removed by officers after she was arrested on outstanding warrants. The suit states that Powell “suffered and continues to suffer extreme shame, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress” as a result of her experience at the police station.
Kirsty Powell, an African American Muslim woman, has on Monday sued the police in California, charging that her headscarf, which she was wearing for religious reasons, was forcibly removed by officers after she was arrested on outstanding warrants.
The Long Beach Press Telegram reports that the complaint against the city of Long Beach and its police department says that Powell and her husband were pulled over by two officers while driving home in May of last year.
She was arrested on two outstanding warrants — one linked to her sister falsely using her identity and one in relation to a 2002 shoplifting incident at a grocery store.
In her lawsuit, Powell alleges that while being booked at the police station, one of the officers forcibly removed her headscarf in view of other male officers and inmates, telling her she was “not allowed to wear he hijab” and that policemen were “allowed to touch women.”
The suit states that Powell “suffered and continues to suffer extreme shame, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress” as a result of her experience at the police station.
“The actions taken by the Long Beach police officers were unwarranted and a serious violation of Mrs. Powell’s bodily integrity,” said Yalda Satar, attorney for the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which filed the suit on behalf of Powell.
“The manner in which Mrs. Powell was treated by LBPD officers was simply a show of authority over a woman of color who was unable to protect herself, and is another example of the type of discrimination faced by women who wear a hijab,” she added.
The Press Telegram notes that the lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages, comes against the backdrop of the police in Los Angeles and San Francisco coming under scrutiny over racist and homophobic text messages and e-mails.
A senior official at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department stepped down on Sunday e-mails he sent three to four years ago, in which he mocked Muslims, became public. In San Francisco, several police officers have resigned over racist text messages they exchanged with each other.
