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Turban
target of 'bomb' slur
WSN Network
WASHINGTON: A Sikh civil rights group
has filed a complaint with Fairfax County police after an officer
allegedly used a religious slur to justify searching a man outside
of a Centreville bar.
The complaint, filed last week, stems from an Oct. 5 dispute between
Inderpal Singh Chawla and a bouncer at O’Tooles Restaurant Pub and
Billiards. It alleges Chawla was turned away from the establishment
after refusing to remove his turban. During the confrontation, a
patron commented that he “probably has a bomb on his head,”
according to the complaint. A nearby officer then told Chawla to
“turn around and put his hands on the wall,” according to the
document.
“Mr. Chawla responded ‘are you serious?’ To which the police officer
stated, ‘Yes, apparently you have a bomb on your head,’ ” the
complaint said.
The officer is not named in the Oct. 24 complaint, filed by the Sikh
American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Fairfax County police
have begun an administrative investigation into the group’s claim,
said Lt. Chris Marsh, commander of the department’s internal affairs
investigations division. Marsh would not comment on specifics of the
case. The review, he said, could take as long as 60 to 90 days.
“We have a strict policy against any sort of racial or religious
discrimination. We take it very seriously,” he said. “This case will
be investigated as thoroughly as possible.”
But neither side has been able to identify the officer, which could
complicate any investigation. The Sikh American Legal Defense and
Education Fund was able to describe the officer only as a “white
male,” according to Marsh.
The inability to name him “doesn’t inspire any confidence in us that
the investigation is going to go well,” said Rajbir Singh Datta, the
group’s national director. The department receives a “tremendous
number of baseless complaints,” though all are taken seriously, said
Marshall Thielen, president of the county’s police union. Thielen
said he was not familiar with Chawla’s case. Neither Chawla nor the
owner of O’Tooles Restaurant Pub and Billiards could be reached for
comment on Thursday.
7 November, 2007
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