On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, on behalf of its client, Deena Othman, ECBAWM filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and several NYPD officers for her baseless arrest and forced removal of her religious head covering in violation of her constitutional and religious rights.

Last year, NYPD officers arrested Ms. Othman on facially implausible charges, detained her for over 24 hours without any food or water, interrogated her concerning her and her family’s religious practices, and violated their own court-ordered policy by stripping Ms. Othman of her hijab when taking her booking photo. The experience was dehumanizing and deeply traumatizing to Ms. Othman, and it is a disturbing echo of past NYPD unconstitutional religious profiling and suspicion-less surveillance of Muslims.

Ms. Othman is represented by ECBAWM attorneys O. Andrew F. Wilson and Hafsa S. Mansoor.