DEARBORN – Last Friday, a jury at the 19th District Court reached a verdict on a case involving one local Arab American man who was arrested by two Dearborn Police officers in 2011 at the Tim Hortons/Wendy’s location on Greenfield Rd. on September 28, after a disgruntled Wendy’s employee contacted the police, claiming the man was being uncooperative and intimidating.

Toufeeg Muhsen, the named defendant on the case, was charged with disturbing the peace, resisting and opposing arrest, and failure to obey a police officer. He allegedly refused to move from the Wendy’s dinning room area after the employee told him it was closed. Two officers responded to the 911 call by going inside of the location, and then proceeded to guide Muhsen out the door.  Muhsen claims the officers allegedly used aggressive force of violence in the parking lot before they arrested him.

On the morning of the trial overseen by Judge William C. Hultgren, both the defendant and prosecutor agreed to drop the failure to obey a police officer charge, leaving the jury to decide whether Muhsen was guilty on the two remaining charges. After the trial exposed testimonies and cross-examinations involving key witnesses, the six person jury found Muhsen guilty on only one of the charges, resisting and opposing arrest. Muhsen was ordered to three months of probation, a $500 fine, as well as 3-5 sessions of Anger Management classes. 

Muhsen tells The Arab American News that he plans to appeal the verdict, alleging unfair strategies and tactics by the 19th District Court and the Dearborn Police Department. Muhsen claims the city purposely pro-longed his case so that it would get little to no attention by the time the trial was set. Immediately after his arrest in 2011, he had garnered large support from the community, including ADC-Michigan and other community members who were looking to support him during the case based on the allegations that he was beaten and mistreated. However, during his trial, Muhsen had no backing from the community, with only his uncle in attendance to show his support.

“The case took so long for one logical reason….when you look at the emotions that were surrounding me following that incident, the emotions were really high. I had so much support from different organizations. This is a strategy that the police force and the city was aware of. If enough time had passed between the incident and the trial date, it puts the city and police in a favorable position. They actually fulfilled and succeeded at their strategy,” Muhsen stated.

ADC-MI Regional Director Imad Hamad says they’ve kept an eye on the case since the very beginning, but also blames numerous delays and the time lapse for the case going under the radar. Hamad did support Muhsen by showing up to the trail last Friday, but he says he couldn’t commit more time because the trial date was set at the last minute and ADC-MI wasn’t informed of the date until about a week before the trial. Muhsen had also hired Attorney James Amberg to represent his case after his arrest. 

Muhsen says his attorney did not have enough time to subpoena witnesses for the case, as the trial was set only two weeks before the date, not giving them enough time to prepare witness testimonies. City Prosecutor Nicole Tabin did however have witnesses take the stand, which included the Wendy’s employee, an Arab American male who worked at the Tim Hortons, and the two Dearborn officers who arrested him that evening. 

When the Arab American News had originally reported the story in 2011, a slew of witnesses who were at the location that evening had come forward claiming they witnessed the two officers being overly-aggressive towards Muhsen. Some of the witnesses were even responsible for bringing the case to the attention of ADC-MI. Muhsen claims the over-aggressive approach of the officers during his arrest in the parking lot led to a sprained arm and other injuries. 

Around 20 witnesses at the scene had told ADC-MI a similar account when they compiled their testimonies less than an hour after Muhsen’s arrest. But none of those witnesses appeared at the trial last Friday. Muhsen claims due to the delay of the case, as well as intimidation from the police department, many of those witnesses were discouraged and lost interest in coming forward.

“The witnesses that I spoke with were initially supportive. But then the Dearborn Police visited their homes and suddenly everything changed. One witness said he saw everything that happened inside and outside, but then he changed his story to say that he only witnessed what occurred inside. The police department used intimidation tactics towards these witnesses,” Muhsen claims. 

What occurred on the evening of September 28 varies depending on the source. The Wendy’s employee claims she was cleaning the lobby near closing time and had asked Muhsen to move over to the Tim Hortons side, which stays open 24-hours. On the witness stand, the woman claimed that Muhsen failed to move from his spot and was being verbally aggressive towards her. She said feeling intimidated and threatened by his presence led to her to make the 911 call. Muhsen had also gotten into a verbal argument with the woman’s brother, who was also an employee at the location.

During the trial, the woman claimed  that she felt Muhsen was a threat to her safety, so she stayed inside of an office while waiting for police to arrive. However, surveillance evidence that was displayed in the courtroom right afterwards told a different story. The woman returned to the lobby several times before the police had arrived, which might have helped prove to the jury that Muhsen was not a threat to her, nor was there enough evidence to prove that he had disturbed the peace. 

Still, Muhsen says he was not satisfied with the trail. He claims there were inconsistencies with the jury selection. When it came down to selecting the jury on the morning of the trial, several of them had to be dismissed because they were somehow related to the Dearborn Police Department. Muhsen claims one woman was married to a Dearborn Police officer, and another man had made it clear that he had trained the majority of Dearborn’s police officers. Both of those jury candidates were dismissed, along with several others, for being too closely related to subjects of the case. In the end, both parties finally agreed on six jurors who appeared unbiased.

Of the six jurors, only one of them was Arab American. Muhsen claims that two of the jurors had fallen asleep numerous times during the trial (The Arab American News can confirm this is true). In a brief phone interview with Judge Hultgren, he states that the jury selection seemed fair.

“People have a difference of opinions when you get a jury trial. There was one Arab American on the Jury and it seemed like a pretty nice mixture of the community,” Judge Hultgren said.

Hultgren did however agree that the case might have been delayed a little longer than it should have. He cited appeals and numerous FOIA requests by both the defendant and the prosecutor as a reason for the delays. At one point in May 2012, Muhsen and his lawyer had even appealed to dismiss the case due to lack of evidence, but Judge Hultgren denied that appeal. 

“The case certainly went way too far from the date of the incident, but sometimes that can happen. Some people say justice delayed is justice denied and I think all of us involved in the system can do a better job in the future of getting these cases to go a little faster,” Judge Hultgren added.  

Muhsen would not comment on whether he is seeking further damages from the city. He did however question why the police department continues to not hire Arab American officers. He is also disappointed in the lack of support from the community, stating that this should have been a case all Arab American residents should have stood behind.

“This is not my fight. This could have happen to anybody. They stripped me from my rights, embarrassed me and physically injured me. But what hurt me more than anything was to turn around in the courtroom and to see no one from the community there standing by me. The Arab American community is not standing up for their rights. If we don’t step up to the plate, this will continue to happen,” Muhsen said. 

A phone call to city Prosecutor Nicole Tabin was not returned at press time.