(Detroit News) A Muslim woman from Grand Rapids is suing Kent County officials over the “forcible removal” of her religious head covering for [a] booking photo and releasing it to the public after her arrest in May.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court on behalf of Jannah Hague. Kent County, Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young and her office were named as defendants, court records showed.
Hague, 23, and the advocacy group are seeking more than $75,000 in punitive damages for the alleged “insurmountable amount of humiliation and trauma” she endured when her Islamic headscarf was removed for a booking photo, which was subsequently released to the public and revealed her person in a “state of undress” following her arrest last year, said Amy Doukoure, CAIR-Michigan’s staff attorney. The suit claims Hague’s First Amendment rights as well as other federal and state laws were violated by the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
