(Newsday) An East Setauket woman has reached a settlement with Suffolk County after officers ordered her to remove her hijab while in police custody in a lawsuit that led to a change in police policy.
The settlement, filed on Friday in federal court in Central Islip, will award $225,000 to Marowa Fahmy, a practicing Muslim. Fahmy argued in a federal complaint filed last year that the Suffolk County Police Department violated her First Amendment rights when officers denied her repeated requests to cover herself with the headscarf as they photographed and held her in their custody for nine hours.
The county and the police department have been relieved of any liability as part of the settlement with Fahmy, but the department had to confirm it notified active members about making current religious accommodations to people with religious headwear and must instill those rules in police academy cadets.
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