in other news

[soxfaninbeverly]

Woman collapses after N.Y. judge asks if she's a terrorist

Associated Press

May. 22, 2003 07:05 AM

 

 

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - An Arab-American woman who was in court to fight a parking ticket fainted when the judge asked her if she was a terrorist.

 

Anissa Khoder, 46, has filed a complaint with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct over the May 15 incident before Tarrytown Village Justice William Crosbie.

 

Crosbie, 79, confirmed this week that he made the remark but said he was "probably kidding with her." He denied her claim that he also accused her of financially supporting terrorists.

 

There is no transcript the courtroom session in Tarrytown, 12 miles north of New York on the Hudson River.

 

The woman's stepson, Hussein Khoder, said his mother went to court because she was ticketed twice within an hour for the same parking violation and felt only one violation was valid.

 

Anissa Khoder told The Journal News that when her name was called, the judge asked if she was a terrorist. She said she was offended but kept that to herself.

 

She claimed that after giving the judge her explanation for why the tickets should be dismissed, "He said something like, 'You have money to support the terrorists, but you don't want to pay the ticket.' I could not believe I was hearing that."

 

She collapsed but recovered as officers took her outside. Both tickets were dismissed.

 

"He has to judge me, not my name," she said. "I love this country. It is my country. There's no Arabic music in my home. I have a 6-foot Christmas tree each year."

 

Anissa Khoder was born and raised in Lebanon. She and her husband arrived in the United States 14 years ago and she became a U.S. citizen in 1993, her stepson said.

 

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, who swore Khoder in as a citizen when he was county clerk, said Crosbie should step down or be ousted.

 

"To call someone a terrorist, that should never happen anywhere, let alone in a courtroom," Spano said. "And for this judge to say it was a joke is even worse."