Two young Muslim sisters whose religious headpieces were torn off in a scuffle with NYPD cops have landed a $97,500 settlement from the city.
The officers approached the girls, ages 12 and 14, in a Bronx playground at around 8 p.m. on an August day in 2013 and ordered them to leave because it was closed, according to a Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed by their mom.
The “devout Muslim” girls, only identified in court papers as K.W. and L.C., immediately complied and began walking out of the Mott Haven park, the suit said.
But moments later, the officers attacked the children, “violently grabbing them around their necks and forcing them to the ground,” the lawsuit stated.
“As the officers, L.C. and K.W. crashed to the ground, the children’s hijabs were pulled from their heads,” the suit said. “This was not only profoundly humiliating, but a violation of their deeply held religious beliefs.”
Police have said the girls were disorderly and that they were not complying with their order.
The police also arrested the girls’ 15-year-old brother, identified as S.W., when he asked what they were doing to his sisters, the suit said.
“It was in the best interest of the city to resolve this case,” a city Law Department spokesman said Tuesday.