Jan 31, 2008 7:57 pm US/Eastern
Woman Arrested For Removing Sikh's Turban At Bar
Later Tells Hoboken, N.J. Police She Was 'Only Kidding'
Reporting
Jay Dow
HOBOKEN, N.J. (CBS) ―
A Hoboken woman was arrested after apparently swiping a turban off a Union City man of Sikh faith at a bar on Tuesday night.
Hansdip Singh Bindra said he never would have imagined a casual outing at Hoboken's Madison's Bar and Grill would end with someone trying to remove his turban, a deep insult to the Sikh faith.
"I could feel a hand pulling this off," he told CBS 2 HD. "Removing my turban in public is akin to giving me a strip search."
Police say 37-year-old Carrie Covello grabbed the turban while standing behind Singh Bindra at the bar. She then apparently asked him, "Why are you wearing that on your head?"
Police arrested and charged Covello with bias intimidation and harassment. She later told detectives she "was only playing and didn't mean anything by it."
But for Singh Bindra, who settled a 2003 religious bias lawsuit against Delta Airlines, Covello's actions were unacceptable.
"She was like belligerent about it. She has a major problem with whatever she perceived me to be," he said.
CBS 2 tried to track down Covello, who has a real estate license at her home, but she wasn't there or at her brother's Liberty Realty company, both in Hoboken.
Madison Bar and Grill owner Dave Carney condemned her actions.
"This was a deplorable action by a customer who we hope to never see again at the Madison Bar and Grill," he said in a statement.
The Hudson County prosecutor's office is also on the case and will ultimately determine if Covello's actions at the bar were based on some kind of religious or ethnic bias.
As far as Singh Bindra is concerned, he sees nothing funny about what happened and wants Covello prosecuted to the fullest extent.
"If these people don't face the consequences, this will happen over and over again," he says.
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