A woman who accused police officers of forcibly removing her hijab has been awarded compensation in the sum of $85,000 after she filed a lawsuit against the Long Beach police.
The woman, Kirsty Powell, who claimed the police operatives stripped her of her hijab and made her spend the night in custody without it revealed that she cried through the night.
The federal lawsuit filed against the police reads: “She cried throughout the ordeal and experienced humiliation when both her religious beliefs and personal integrity were violated.
“She felt that the male officers and male inmates had seen parts of her body that they should not have seen, according to her religious beliefs.”
However, months after the arrest and lawsuit, the Long Beach Police department changed its policy to allow inmates wear religious head coverings in jail unless the fear of causing harm by the inmate has been established.
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