Detroit Cops Who Used Islamophobic Slurs Reach Settlement with Muslim Men
The suit was based on body-worn camera footage that showed one of the officers making derogatory remarks about Muslims, such as "Muslims lie a lot" and "Muslim men are pedophiles."
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations announced the settlement three years to the day after the Sept. 26, 2020 incident that started with a 911 call about an assault and ended with Detroit Police Officers Donald Owens and Nathaniel Mullen arresting Khalil Muhammad, Clifford Williams and Roberto Guzman, who were later released without charges.
"We hope through this settlement, that the Detroit Police Department would be more willing to not only go through (anti-bias) training, but that their officers will internalize that training in dealing with the large Muslim population of Detroit," CAIR-Michigan Director Dawud Walid told The Detroit News Tuesday. Walid did not disclose the terms of the settlement, although he said a monetary judgment was awarded.
When the lawsuit was announced in September, 2021, Detroit Police officials said they'd launched an internal investigation into the allegations against Owens and Mullen. Following the probe, Owens was suspended without pay for five days after he was found guilty of two departmental violations: Neglect of duty and "disparaging or demeaning the race, nationality or personal characteristics of any person," DPD officials said Tuesday.
"The statements made by the involved officer in 2020 were inexcusable and unbecoming of an officer of this Department," DPD said in a statement. "The allegations led to a formal investigation that ultimately resulted in the officer being suspended from duty. Under no circumstances will this Department condone the disparagement of any individual, particularly on the basis of their race or ethnicity. After assuming office in 2021, Chief White hired a DEI professional to assess the Department's training and practices to ensure incidents such as these do not take place."
According to the lawsuit, which sought a minimum of $75,000, the incident started when Muhammad called 911 to report that a woman who lived in his house on Greenlawn on Detroit's west side had attacked him and his two friends with a hammer and destroyed his property. Muhammad told police the woman had needed a place to stay after being released from a mental health facility.
When Officers Owens and Mullen arrived, they first spoke with the woman outside the house, the lawsuit said.
"At some point, (the woman) indicates to Owens and Mullen that the men that she had been staying with were 'Muslims,'" the 17-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan said.
"After speaking with (the woman), Owens then made several explicitly Islamophobic comments to unidentified officers who arrived at the scene that were inflammatory and derogatory, irrelevant to the situation at hand and were the sole basis for his determination to arrest Plaintiffs."
According to body-worn camera footage reviewed by The Detroit News when the agency filed the lawsuit, after Owens talked to the woman, he told another officer, "Muslim men are pedophiles," "Muslims lie a lot ... they control them ... like, they feel like ... you don't have a say if you're a woman."
An unidentified female officer is heard replying, "Especially woman."
Owens answers: "You don't have the say-so — like, 'you do what we tell you to do.'"
The two officers then interviewed Muhammad, Williams and Guzman, according to the suit.
"Mullen and Owens both acknowledged to each other, as well as other officers on the scene, that Plaintiff Roberto Guzman had blood and other signs of physical injury to his person," the suit said. "At no time did Defendant Owens or Defendant Mullen take into consideration the physical evidence of Plaintiff Guzman's injuries, nor did they do any investigation into the claims that (the woman) had destroyed property or used a claw hammer to assault the Plaintiffs."
Instead, the three men "were arrested and handcuffed in front of the Greenlawn residence in broad daylight in front of their neighbors in a manner that was intended to humiliate and embarrass them due to their Muslim faith," the lawsuit said. "(The) arrest was based solely on Defendants' animus and bigotry towards Muslims, especially Muslim men, and was without probable cause."
The men were released without charges three days later, the lawsuit said.
"When citizens of Detroit are in distress and call 911, they should be able to do so without fear that they will be profiled and wrongfully arrested based on the bigotry of a responding officer who took an oath to protect and serve the whole community regardless of faith," CAIR-Michigan's staff attorney, Amy V. Doukoure, said in a statement. "Biased policing does not make any community safer, but instead sows the seeds of mistrust between the police and the community that they serve."
Source: detroitnews.com
