Loading ...Oceana County settles lawsuit over removal of religious head covering at jail
John Hogan
WZZM13.com
The Oceana County Sheriff’s Department has settled a lawsuit filed by a Muslim woman from Dearborn Heights who says she was forced to remove a religious head covering while being processed at the county jail last spring on a traffic violation.
Fatme Dakroub, 34, filed the lawsuit last year, claiming her Constitutional rights were violated after being forced to remove her hijab when she was arrested for driving on an expired license.
The May 17, 2015 arrest took place while she and several family members were vacationing at the Lake Michigan sand dunes.
Under terms of the settlement, a female officer will be used when available to remove the hijab. An alternative head-dress will also be provided to “maintain the religious modesty’’ of the individual, Oceana County attorney James L. Dyer said Wednesday.
“There was no payout, no money exchanged hands,’’ he said of settlement terms.
Coincidentally, the Oceana County Sheriff’s Department was working on a policy addressing the issue prior to the federal lawsuit, Dyer said. “We had never had an inmate come in with this type of issue, but we knew we had to do something to address it,’’ Dyer said.
The jail will also have on hand head coverings that can be worn as a substitute to the hijab. “It’s just a way to accommodate the security concerns of the jail while also respecting religious rights,’’ Dyer said. “It was a reasonable solution approved by all parties.’’
After arriving at the jail, Dakroub, a U.S. citizen who travels frequently to the United Arab Emirates, was told to remove the headscarf covering her hair, ears and neck. Having her hair and neck uncovered in public is a serious breach of faith and religious practice, the federal lawsuit claimed.
Dakroub told officers she did not want to remove her headscarf in front of three male officers. When she asked to have a female officer oversee her booking, she was told it was not an option.
“Simply put, Dakroub was forced to remove her headscarf, against her will, and given no other option,” her attorney, Nabih H. Ayad said in the civil action. “Dakroub reluctantly removed her headscarf in front of the three male officers.”
U.S. District Court Magistrate Ellen Carmody dismissed the case this week after both parties notified the court the case had settled. Ayad was not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit filed last June in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids sought compensatory, punitive and economic damages in a jury trial.
She was forced to sit in a holding cell for three hours without the headscarf in front of male officers and multiple male inmates.
“Dakroub was further degraded and humiliated when male inmates made advances on her and hit on her when she was not wearing her headscarf,” the lawsuit claims.
Ayad earlier said the lawsuit ventured into unchartered territory with regards to religious freedom and heightened security measures.
The accord is similar to an agreement reached in another case Ayad handled in southeast Michigan.