Bank has entire Arab-American family arrested after father tries to deposit large check from home sale

Source: Raw Story
Published: Sep 11, 2017
Author: Noor Al-Sibai
Post Date: 2017-09-13 09:20:00 by Deckard
Views: 2518

In Kansas, an Iraqi-American doctoral student was arrested along with his family after attemping to deposit a large check from the sale of their old house.

According to Wichita State’s student newspaper The Sunflower, Sattar Ali, who moved to the United States in 1993, took a check for $151,000 from the sale of his family’s old house in Michigan to Wichita’s Emprise Bank. As he told local news station KAKE, he brought verification documents along with him, but a few minutes after he first presented tellers with the check, he was in handcuffs.

After being taken outside, Ali discovered his wife Hadil and their 15-year-old daughter Hawra were in the backseat of the police car waiting for him. Sometime during their three-hour detainment, Ali said police called his 11-year-old son’s school to tell them to hold him because his parents had been arrested.

He said he didn’t discover until after they were released that he and his family had been arrested because the bank claimed they could not verify the large check and believed it was fraudulent.

“No one told me why I was being arrested until we were being released,” Ali told The Sunflower. “They didn’t read me rights or anything.”

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“We were devastated. Terrified. Crying the whole time,” Ali said. “We had no idea what the arrest was for.”

Ali told The Sunflower he believes he and his family were racially profiled because the large check came from someone with his name and not someone named “James or Robert.”

“Let’s assume I made a mistake and gave them a bad check,” Ali said. “Why would they arrest my wife and daughter?”

Ali, who along with his wife and children are American citizens, lived in Wichita from 1998 to 2008, and was returning to get his doctorate in engineering from Wichita State, where his eldest son is a freshman. He said the arrest marked his first time feeling unwelcome in the Kansas city.

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“I would expect this in the 1950s,” Ali said. “Not now.”

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#1: Justified    To: Deckard (#0)

We are not getting the real story here. I did the same thing after I sold my house with every bit the of what he had and no I did not have an issue. My bank got on their knees and thanked me! lol

Fake news!!! ;)

There is something not being told here and since we are getting only one side I will wait till more comes out!

Justified posted on 2017-09-13 09:59:16   Reply   Private Reply

#2: Tooconservative    To: Deckard (#0)

This bank and the local PD are likely to get their asses sued off even in Kansas.

If they thought it was a bad check, they could clarify that without arrests. And nothing justified the arrest of the wife and minor daughter.

The bank had better settle now with an NDA.

Tooconservative posted on 2017-09-13 12:06:11   Reply   Private Reply

#3: jeremiad    To: Justified (#1)

Let's reverse that story. This white man of middle age, when seeing Washington Mutual get ready to take a fiscal dive, went in to get a cashiers check. The amount was approximately $25K to move the funds to another bank. They wanted me to transfer it to Chase bank as they took over the business of WaMU. I wanted the cashiers check. After 15 minutes of wrangling, they diverted me to the security officer, who placed me in an office with a locked door. The Manager came in and gave me the hard sell. At this point I insisted that I wanted my savings, IN CASH NOW, and no was not an acceptable answer. Long story short, I was intimidated, treated like dirt, and had to wait 6 days for them to scrape up that much cash.

I relate this because...A BANK REFUSING A DEPOSIT???? That is funny. I disbelieve this narrative. Like someone said before me, there is something missing from the story.

jeremiad posted on 2017-09-13 14:06:49   Reply   Private Reply

#4: goldilucky    To: Deckard (#0)

It sounds to me like Sattar Ali or his attorney need to contact https://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/findananswer/can-a-bank-really

goldilucky posted on 2017-09-13 14:29:19   Reply   Private Reply

#5: Justified    To: Tooconservative, Deckard, jeremiad, goldilucky (#2)

This has Clockboy written all over it. Until more is known I think there is much not told and I believe all the info came out of a FB post?

Justified posted on 2017-09-13 19:16:18   Reply   Private Reply

#6: Tooconservative    To: Justified, Deckard, jeremiad, goldilucky (#5)

FWIW, it was reported elsewhere.

Fox2Detroit: Dearborn family arrested while trying to deposit check in bank

Tooconservative posted on 2017-09-13 21:43:43   Reply   Private Reply

#7: goldilucky    To: Tooconservative (#6)

The bank released a statement saying that it "can confirm that our team acted in accordance with our policies and procedures. If faced with the same circumstances today, we would expect our team to take the same actions."

There goes that "custom and policy" crap again. Like I mentioned in my earlier post on this thread, they need to consult with the Federal Reserve on this. But also I believe that if no harm was ever done, they may seek a legal remedy to sue that bank for using a policy to deprive them of their right to their money. May even get the FR involved if they condone such a practice like this too.

goldilucky posted on 2017-09-13 22:40:47   Reply   Private Reply

#8: Tooconservative    To: goldilucky (#7)

Both the bank and the cops should know better.

It isn't that hard to verify an out-of-state check from a modest real estate sale. You have the real estate agent, the deed registrar, etc. all involved in the sale and being able to vouch for the check's legitimacy.

I don't believe the cops when they allege they couldn't verify the check and that somehow justified the arrest. And in what way can they justify arresting the teen daughter?

Tooconservative posted on 2017-09-13 22:57:01   Reply   Private Reply

#9: A K A Stone    To: Tooconservative (#8)

And in what way can they justify arresting the teen daughter?

Maybe they got disorderly.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-09-13 22:59:02   Reply   Private Reply

#10: Tooconservative    To: A K A Stone (#9)

I dunno. The Detroit coverage shows an angry dad and a wife/son/daughter that looked pretty placid. They don't look so radical to me, more embarrassed I would say.

Tooconservative posted on 2017-09-13 23:16:01   Reply   Private Reply

#11: nolu chan    To: Tooconservative (#2)

This bank and the local PD are likely to get their asses sued off even in Kansas.

What are they going to charge the bank with? There is no law prohibiting the report of something found suspicious. There is a law that the cop needed more than bank suspicion to arrest anyone, much less the whole family.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/iraqi-doctoral-student-arrested-depositing-check-wichita-article-1.3489883

Wichita police said they were called to the bank for an attempted forgery, KAKE reported.

“Officers on scene made attempts to verify the legitimacy of the check, and were unable to do so,” police said in a statement.

The check was ultimately verified.

“Wichita Police Detectives were utilized as part of the investigation due to their expertise and access to additional resources. The detectives, using the additional resources, were able to verify the legitimacy of the check.”

[...]

Ali said he plans to take legal action in response to the incident.

Not good enough. Officers on the scene did not verify that the valid check was bogus. What possible cause did they have to arrest the rest of the family? This is what will really screw the police department.

nolu chan posted on 2017-09-14 04:21:09   Reply   Private Reply

#12: paraclete    To: Deckard (#0)

I guess it just shows you don't put your money in a Arab bank

paraclete posted on 2017-09-14 04:30:39   Reply   Private Reply

#13: Justified    To: Tooconservative, All (#6)

There is something truly bizarre about this. They're at a bank. All the bank as to do is verify the check comes from a real bank and ask that bank if funds are available. They have this ability. I know I have had banks do this for me.

The only reason the bank would call the police is that the check did not check out. What kinda bank is this? Check cashing business do this all the time!

Justified posted on 2017-09-14 08:54:12   Reply   Private Reply