New York Metropolis agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a lawsuit by two Muslim-American girls who mentioned the police violated their rights after arresting them by forcing them to take away their hijabs earlier than being photographed.
The preliminary class motion settlement covers women and men required to take away spiritual apparel earlier than being photographed. It was filed on Friday in Manhattan federal courtroom, and requires approval by US District Choose Analisa Torres.
Payouts will whole about $13.1 million after authorized charges and prices are deducted, and will enhance if sufficient of the greater than 3,600 eligible class members submit claims. Every recipient shall be paid between $7,824 and $13,125.
‘Disgrace and trauma’ felt after hijab removing
The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in 2018 by Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz, who mentioned they felt disgrace and trauma when police pressured them to take away their hijabs for his or her mugshots the prior yr in Manhattan and Brooklyn, respectively.
Each had been arrested for violating orders of safety that they referred to as bogus. Their attorneys likened eradicating the hijabs to being strip-searched.
“Once they pressured me to take off my hijab, I felt as if I had been bare,” Clark mentioned in an announcement supplied by her attorneys. “I am undecided if phrases can seize how uncovered and violated I felt.”
In response to the lawsuit, New York’s police division agreed in 2020 to let women and men put on head coverings throughout mugshots, as long as their faces could possibly be seen.
“This settlement resulted in a optimistic reform for the NYPD,” mentioned Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the town’s legislation division. “The settlement fastidiously balances the division’s respect for firmly held spiritual beliefs with the essential legislation enforcement must take arrest photographs.”
The brand new coverage prolonged to different spiritual headwear, together with wigs and yarmulkes worn by Jews and turbans worn by Sikhs.
Police can briefly take away head coverings to seek for weapons or contraband, however in personal settings by officers of the identical gender.
Albert Fox Cahn, a lawyer for Clark and Aziz, mentioned the accord “sends a robust message that the NYPD cannot violate New Yorkers’ First Modification rights with out paying a worth.”
Folks pressured to take away head coverings between March 16, 2014 and Aug. 23, 2021 are eligible for the settlement
