A former North Bergen police officer who was both criminally charged and fired last year has filed a discrimination lawsuit alleging that a superior routinely mocked his religion, calling him a “camel jockey,” among other slurs.
The 20-page lawsuit, filed in Hudson County Superior Court on behalf of Police Officer Rasheed Siyam by attorney Patrick Toscano on August 7th, alleges his client faced retaliation for reporting the discriminatory conduct.
“From the beginning of Plaintiff’s career through on or about June 19 or June 20, 2023, [Det. Frank] Mena directed discriminatory comments toward Plaintiff concerning Plaintiff’s actual and/or perceived ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, and religion on an almost daily basis,” the lawsuit states.
Among other things, Mena referred to Plaintiff as a ‘terrorist,’ a ‘camel jockey,’ and a ‘sand n*****. Mena also told Plaintiff, in words or substance, that Plaintiff’s ‘people’ or ‘kind’ were responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.”…