A 12-year-old Brooklyn boy says in a lawsuit that he was barred from boarding a city bus after the driver heard the youngster reciting a Muslim prayer and branded him a “terrorist.”
The unidentified plaintiff was searching for his MetroCard as the B36 Bus pulled up on Sheepshead Bay Road last October, according to the suit, filed Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court.
He began reciting a Muslim prayer: “I stand in the name of God the most merciful, the most beneficent,” the suit states. The driver became alarmed, called the boy a “terrorist” and slammed the door shut, the boy’s lawyer, Hyder Naqvi, told the Daily News.
“The driver said ‘Get off!’” and used the T-word,” Naqvi said, referring to the word “terrorist.”
The lawyer said the boy was so hurt afterwards that he was didn’t want to use public transportation, but later he became angry and is resolved to right the wrong.
“He was two days shy of turning 11 when this happened, but he’s old enough to know what it feels like to be discriminated against,” Naqvi said.
