(WWJ) On the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks, a Muslim woman alleges she was attacked on a Spirit Airlines flight from Atlanta to Detroit.
Aicha Toure said it happened when she was trying to exit the plane and came to the defense of an older woman who was being verbally abused by a female passenger.
Amy Doukoure, an attorney with The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group, said that's when the cursing passenger turned her tirade toward Toure — who wears a head scarf — shouting profanities, and calling her a "Muslim terrorist."
"Ms. Toure pulled out her phone to record the woman, to protect herself, and the woman became irate that she was going to be recorded," Doukoure said. "So she punched, with a closed fist, Ms. Toure... knocking her phone out of her hand."
Doukoure said the assailant was arrested by the Wayne County Sherriff's deputies at Detroit Metro Airport, but was released without charges and without bond, pending a warrant.
Doukoure said there is plenty of video evidence in the case.
"(Toure) caught some of the aftermath of what happened on her phone, after she was able to pick her phone back up. She caught some of the woman using profanities at her, but there were other passengers on the flight that caught the entire incident with their phones," she said.
Doukoure said she is reaching out Monday morning to find out why the woman has not been charged.
Besides assault and battery charges, she said the woman should be charged with a hate crime under Michigan’s ethnic intimidation statute.
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“The alleged actions of this individual are reprehensible and she clearly targeted religious and racial minorities for her violent words and actions,” Doukoure said. “Michigan’s Ethnic intimidation law was created to protect people like Ms. Toure from being assaulted after being called a Muslim terrorist while traveling on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. It is imperative that Wayne County Prosecutor’s office take this hate crime seriously and ensure that Muslims are safe from hate and violence in all aspects of their life.”
Spirit Airlines released the following statement about the incident:
“At Spirit, we want each of our Guests to feel safe, welcome and respected. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. A passenger on one of our flights arriving in Detroit last night chose to use appalling language toward one of our Guests. That kind of language has no place on our planes -- or anywhere else — and she is no longer welcome on any of our flights.
"We thank our crew for taking control of the situation until law enforcement arrived, and we thank the Wayne County Airport Police for removing her.”
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