New York policewoman sues over ‘hijab attack’

NYPD police officer says she suffered years of verbal abuse because she wore a hijab on duty.

NYPD officer Aml Elsokary was celebrated as a hero when she saved an elderly man and a baby girl from a burning building in 2014. (NYPD via Twitter)

NEW YORK // The first officer to wear a hijab in the New York Police Department says she suffered years of bullying that culminated in a physical attack during which her colleagues tried to rip the scarf from her head.

Danielle Alamrani, 38 and a mother, claims her career suffered because she was taken off patrol work and subjected to years of verbal abuse. She is suing the city police department for allowing religious discrimination in the workplace.

“On a daily basis she would be told that she should not be a police officer, that she should not be allowed to wear the hijab, that nobody wanted to work with her, that she was a disgrace to the NYPD and that nobody liked her, along with other deriding comments,” according to the lawsuit, filed in court earlier this month.

She is not the first Muslim officer to take action against the department but it comes at an embarrassing time for the NYPD, which won praise only weeks ago for announcing a number of religious uniform exemptions. After a Muslim officer launched a class-action suit last year on behalf of anyone affected, Muslim and Sikh policemen are now allowed to grow beards that extend up to half an inch from the face.

It also follows reports of a surge in hate crimes during the bitter 2016 election campaign. Some Muslim women have stopped wearing headscarves to avoid unwanted attention.

“Something should be done to prevent it happening again and to let other officers know that you can’t treat a fellow officer this way,” said Ms Alamrani’s lawyer, Jesse Rose, who believes the police officer was the first NYPD officer to wear a hijab on duty. “You do expect police officers to have thicker skin and be able to deal with other people. But you don’t expect them to have to do that with their own colleagues.”

Ms Alamrani joined the police force in 2006 and converted to Islam a year later after she got married to a Muslim. The trouble began in 2008, when she was given permission to wear a hijab to work, she says.

A union supervisor told her that senior officers were unhappy with her decision, she claims, and soon moved her to desk shifts or guarding prisoners, duties that limit opportunities for overtime. She was frequently referred to as terrorist or Taliban, she says.

On one occasion, a sergeant ordered her not to “detonate on patrol”. She filed a complaint in 2012, but nothing changed and the harassment continued.

Things deteriorated further by the end of the year, the complaint alleges, when two officers attacked her and tried to rip the hijab from her head.

They called her names, and one of them threatened: “I will punch you in the face.” One of the attackers was the precinct’s equal employment opportunity liaison officer, according to the court documents.

On another occasion, a colleague took a photograph of Ms Alamrani at a gun range — part of her normal duties and training — and posted it on Facebook. The post attracted threats of violence and derogatory comments from other colleagues, describing her as a “disgrace” and a “moving target”.

The harassment has stopped since she was moved to a different precinct and away from the officers she says were responsible for the abuse. But she is claiming unspecified damages for lost earnings and for mental, emotional and physical distress.

About 1,500 Muslims serve in the NYPD, of which 900 are uniformed officers, in a total force of 34,500, according to the Muslim Officers Society. Ms Alamrani is one of two women to wear a hijab while on duty. The society said that although the NYPD had taken steps to tackle discrimination, there was still room for improvement.

In December, the force and Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York, spoke out in support of a female officer Aml Elsokary who was abused and labelled ISIL by a man who threatened to slit her throat. Ms Elsokary was off duty at the time.

“I was sick to my stomach when I heard that one of our officers was subjected to threats and taunting simply because of her faith,” Mr de Blasio said: “We can’t allow this.”

Officials are calling on the city’s district attorney to rule out plea bargains in the case of hate crimes as part of a tougher stance against racist or religiously-motivated attacks.