Raffique Khan, a Purple Heart recipient, is still in shock that he was pulled over while driving his BMW in Brooklyn without any apparent reason before being detained for carrying a constitutional weapons.
Unfortunately, he says, he may only assume he was charged because he’s Black.
Khan, 40, retired from the , U. S. Army , and then working as an armed national setting security expert assigned to , Fort Wadsworth , on Staten Island, has filed a federal complaint alleging prejudice, wrongful incarceration and a rejection of his Second Amendment right to carry a firearm.
” There was no probable cause, to stop]Khan ] other than he was a person of color operating an expensive late model vehicle…” said the suit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court by his lawyer, Cory Morris, on May 21. Morris filed a similar lawsuit on June 14 in Brookly n’s State Supreme Court.
” To be honest, I’m frustrated”, Khan, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, told the Daily News in an exam. Never did I think I do offer and be treated in this manner when I returned home. I love my state. Although I was n’t born here, what better way to pay your country than to serve? i did it respectfully.
I had no idea if I was arguing or trying to fight or be aggressive, but that’s how it was.
The legal problem, which was filed after Officer Matthew Bessen, who Khan described as pale, detained Khan last November 26 in East New York, clearly demonstrates that Khan has a license to carry a rifle according to the NYPD’s personal collection. Morris claimed that Khan’s license was exempt from such restrictions, but the problem claimed that Khan could only have the weapon at work.
The case was dismissed in February, but Khan said the damage is done.
” Besides the embarrassment, I do n’t want to run into this situation again,” Khan said”. I believed I was carrying out the necessary steps. I do n’t want to sound like a saint, or anything like that, but I always believed that if you did the right thing, good things will happen to you.
For rescuing other men caught in the wreckage of a death vehicle explosive that killed two Americans and seriously injured three hundred Afghan soldiers in 2012, Khan received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Before the vehicle came to a halt, he was out with his family for a meeting in respect of what had just happened to be his recently-deceased family’s 70th birthday.
When it was over, he, a aunt, and a friend entered Khan’s BMW, which had a Purple Heart on its license plate, and exchanged some thoughts and a late-night breakfast.
Khan, a father of three, recalls passing by an unknown vehicles without much thought. Two police officers in the same automobile pulled him over a few minutes after he drove away.
Khan claimed that he was not told why he was being stopped, and that neither the objection nor its contents provide any evidence.
But Kkan, noting his” great value” for law enforcement, said he instantly told Bessen he was a certified gun owner and that the tool was in his sleeve area.
After that, Khan claimed that Bessen had examined Khan’s documents, including his carry permit and military identification, and that he had asked how they had been obtained.
” Maybe he did n’t expect a minority to have credentials like that,” Khan said”. I did not say that to him, but I was saying that to myself. Even though I’m asking him what’s going on, he did n’t explain anything to me at all, so I wanted to still treat him with the respect he deserves.
Khan, his cousin, and his friend were handcuffed and taken to the 75th Precinct after about a half-hour, with the rest of the group letting go.
Khan was released without bail — even though a prosecutor requested bail be set at$ 50, 000 — after more than 35 hours in custody, according to the lawsuit, filed May 21 at Brooklyn Federal Court.
Khan was able to persuade his superiors that he was n’t AWOL. However, he was forced to give up his second weapon, for which he still has a permit for his Queens home.
Morris argued that Khan’s arrest is a classic example of police working without reason and working with the assumption that all firearms are illegally owned.
There was not so much as a traffic stop alleged here”, Morris said in an interview. The police are imposing an unlawful policy on the basis of unlawful racial stops and making an unlawful arrest solely based on firearm ownership.
The NYPD stated that it does not make comments on pending lawsuits. It refused to respond to any inquiries regarding the stop.
Bessen, a five- year veteran, did not respond to a request for comment. He has reportedly made 189 arrests and been cited 13 times for performing well in the police force.
He received a command discipline in January for a questioning of a person in the wrong manner. And the Civilian Complaint Review Board has  , substantiated , 8 of 38 allegations against him for his tactics in 13 incidents. For a number of the substantiated allegations, records indicate he received command disciplines, including the elimination of vacation days.
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