The 18-year-old Muslim college student who claimed three men shouting “Donald Trump” called her a terrorist and attempted to rip off her hijab on the New York subway has been arrested for filing a false report.
Yasmin Seweid repeatedly insisted that the story was true, but on Wednesday, as police detectives became more suspicious about the veracity of her tale, she recanted, citing family problems.
A police source defended the arrest, stating, “This isn’t something we normally like to do but she had numerous opportunities to admit nothing happened and she kept sticking by her story. We dedicated a lot of resources to this — and don’t get me wrong, this is what we do — but we had guys going back and forth, looking for video and witnesses. And we couldn’t find anything. Nothing happened — and there was no victim.”
Seweid claimed that on the night of December 1, the three men, whom she said were drunk, accosted her while straphangers observed but did not interfere. She stated, “It made me really sad after when I thought about it. People were looking at me and looking at what was happening and no one said a thing. They just looked away.” ABC7 reported that Seweid claimed the men shouted, “You f******* terrorist! Get out of this country! You don’t belong here!” She claimed she ignored them, so they grabbed her purse, then tried to grab her hijab, yelling, “Get that f****** thing off your head!”
Seweid described the suspects to police; one alleged suspect was seen by police on video following her when she got off the subway at Grand Central Station.
Police initially though Seweid had been traumatized, but their curiosity was piqued when Seweid left home and was reported missing last Thursday, then was found safe at home on Friday.