Man claims treatment ‘racist and dehumanizing,’ sues police

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This article was published 05/10/2020 (1843 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Winnipeg teacher who had sex assault charges against him stayed is suing the Winnipeg Police Service, alleging officers subjected him to racist taunts and ruined any chance he had of resuming his career.

Ishmael Mustapha, 47, was arrested in 2019, after two female University of Winnipeg Collegiate high school students accused him of sexually assaulting them in 2016 and 2018.

The charges were stayed in December, after Mustapha agreed to a one-year peace bond.

Mustapha had resigned from the collegiate and was working at a private school in the United Arab Emirates in June 2019, when he learned of the charges against him and returned to Winnipeg.

In a statement of claim filed Monday, Mustapha, who is Muslim, alleges police, upon his return to Winnipeg, held him in a cell “saturated with pre-existing urine and vomit,” forced him to wear a burlap sack, subjected him to racist taunts and threatened to beat him.

The lawsuit alleges WPS officers called Mustapha a “f—ing terrorist, and “brown piece of s—.” One officer, the lawsuit alleges, told Mustapha: “If I see you in the parking lot, I will beat the s— out of you.”

While in custody, one officer told Mustapha “he was likely to ‘get off’ (from the criminal charges), but that he (the officer) would ensure that the story is released to the media so that it ruins his life,” the lawsuit alleges.

“You see it in the news, but you never think it is going to happen to you,” Mustapha said in an interview Monday, calling his treatment by police “racist and dehumanizing.”

“Some of these things stick with me like I heard it five minutes ago,” he said. “You don’t expect to hear it from police.”

City police released Mustapha’s name to the media, and news of his arrest went “viral,” alleges the lawsuit. Mustapha was subsequently fired from his job.

Mustapha’s treatment was racially motivated, said his lawyer, Joshua Slayen, arguing he was the only teacher among those charged with similar crimes in recent years whose name was released by Winnipeg police.

“Given the unique nature of his career working with young adults and how he was treated in comparison, the facts speak for themselves in my view,” Slayen said.

The lawsuit alleges city police contacted all of Mustapha’s former employers, “further destroy(ing) Mr. Mustapha’s reputation and career.”

After the charges against him were stayed, Mustapha returned to the United Arab Emirates to teach in January, but was fired within days when the school learned of his prior arrest. In August and September, Mustapha was hired and fired from two more jobs abroad.

“The only prospective job opportunities for Mr. Mustapha are overseas, where there is less of a focus on North American media,” says the lawsuit. “Mr. Mustapha is unable to be with his wife, children and extended family when teaching overseas, and all overseas employment to date has been terminated because of the viral information.”

Unable to find work either in Winnipeg or abroad, Mustapha now lives in an apartment with his 25-year-old son.

“The defamation and the language that the police gave to media outlets to ruin my reputation, it worked,” he said. “It ruined my career, it ruined my life, locally and internationally.”

The allegations have not been proven in court. The Winnipeg Police Service declined to comment on the lawsuit.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca