Woman of Iranian descent
sues CHP for national origin discrimination

By Julia Cheever, Bay City News Service

April 5, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A spokesman at the California Highway Patrol's headquarters in Sacramento said today, "We don't racially profile," but said he could not comment specifically on a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco by a woman of Iranian descent.

CHP spokesman Tony Marshall said, "We don't have any comment on pending cases. I'm not going to get into specifics."

The lawsuit was filed on March 29 by Zahra Sedaghatpour, 38, of Fremont, over an incident in which she was stopped for alleged speeding in her red Mercedes Benz on Interstate Highway 680 in Pleasanton on Sept. 12, 2006.

The lawsuit alleges that Officer Jon Schatmeier made ethnically demeaning remarks and that he and another officer hurt her arm, leg and elbow when she was allegedly dragged out of her car and handcuffed.

The date of the incident was the day after the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. Sedaghatpour alleges in the suit that Schatmeier told her, "Today is Sept. 12. Do you remember Sept. 11? It's people like you who killed all of our people."

The lawsuit also alleges the officer said, "I don't have time for you foreigners to sit in your Mercedes ... You think you own the country."

The defendants in the lawsuit are the state of California, the CHP, Schatmeier and two unidentified officers.

The suit is based on claims of racial and national origin discrimination, use of excessive force and unreasonable seizure in violation of the U.S. and state constitutions and laws.

It seeks financial compensation, punitive damages and a court injunction requiring the CHP to stop the alleged practices and retrain its officers.

The case was assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte, who is scheduled to hold a case management conference in her San Francisco courtroom on July 3.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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