(Detroit News) A Muslim woman who claims Ferndale police forced her to remove her Islamic headscarf for a booking photo in June has filed a federal lawsuit against the city.
Helana Bowe filed the suit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Her lawsuit names the city, Ferndale Police Chief Dennis Emmi, two Ferndale police officers and a police sergeant as defendants.
She is seeking damages as well as a court order forbidding the police department from requiring the removal of any and all religious head coverings for booking photos. Bowe is also asking the court to order Ferndale police to never disseminate the photo taken of Bowe without her hijab, remove it from the public record and to adopt nondiscriminatory policies to prevent issues in the future.
