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ABC7 – April 12, 2006
Protestors support arrested Muslim teen
By Dan Noyes
April 12, 2006 - KGO - Protesters came out in force at the Davis City Council meeting Tuesday night. They're outraged by the arrest of a Muslim teenager over a minor fender bender. The girl's family is accusing the Davis police of racial discrimination. The ABC7 I-Team first broke this story last month.
The Davis city council got an earful over the arrest of a Muslim teenager in a minor fender bender.
Mansur Zahir, UC Davis student: "When I'm out late at night, I think about how afraid I am of the police, not how afraid I am of my fellow citizens."
Davis police officer Pheng Ly arrested Halema Buzayan for misdemeanor hit and run, even though her mother insisted she was driving in a parking lot last June.
Najat Buzayan, mother: "Yes, I was driving -- not Halema. Halema was with me in the car."
Witnesses reported seeing the family SUV moving near a sedan that had been damaged. No one in the SUV recalled a collision, but the Buzayans cut a check for $870 for repairs to settle the issue.
Three days later, Officer Ly came to the family's home at 9:30 p.m. on a school night and arrested Halema in her pajamas, charging her with misdemeanor hit-and-run.
Steven Baissa, UC Davis Cross Cultural Center: "It's truly a sad testament to a city that we allow a 16-year-old to suffer like this."
More than a hundred people crowded into the city council meeting to express their outrage.
Jann Murray-Garcia, Davis resident: "The city council and the Davis police should have apologized to this young woman and her family a long time ago. They should apologize today." …..
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=4078118
CAIR Bulletin – April 12, 2006
CAIR-CA calls on Justice Department
to protect rights of Muslim teen
DAVIS, CA, April 12, 2006- The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on Islamic-Relations (CAIR-SV) today called on the Department of Justice to protect the civil rights of Halema Buzayan, a Muslim teenager arrested following an alleged "fender bender" that media reports now indicate may never have occurred.
According to an ABC 7 News investigative report: "A Muslim family from the town of Davis appeared in court for the eighth time Monday in a minor fender bender. The case raises questions of racial discrimination and whether Yolo County prosecutors are wasting tax dollars by pursuing the matter so vigorously.
"All this comes on a day when the I-Team's obtained a report from a defense expert that says the 16-year-old girl should never have been arrested in the first place and that the accident never even happened."
SEE: Did Fender Bender Ever Really Happen?
"The fact that county officials have taken such extreme measures in a minor traffic case creates the impression that there is something motivating them other than the pursuit of justice," said CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra.
Elkarra called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to donate to the family's legal defense fund.
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