Library Officer Accused Of Harassing Woman In Hijab Is Returning To Work

Demonstration outside Shaw Library. (Photo by Rachel Kurzius)

The officer accused of intimidating a woman ^[1] in a Muslim headscarf at the Shaw Library is returning to work while the D.C. Public Library continues to investigate the incident.

DCPL police officer Timothy Craggette was originally placed on administrative leave after the March incident, which prompted an outcry and a a protest ^[2].

Tonight, he returns to his job as a part-time D.C. Public Library police officer, though now he's working the overnight shift, according to DCPL spokesperson George Williams. "where he will not have contact with the public" until the investigation wraps.

Craggette told WUSA 9 ^[3] that his hours have been cut in half. Williams says that the 20 hours per week are in keeping with Craggette's contract, and any additional hours he worked previously were covering for other officers.

The library is still investigating the incident that occurred on the afternoon of March 23.

"All I heard was [Craggette] started asking her to take off her hijab. My jaw dropped," recalled Jessica Raven, who was writing emails on a Shaw Library computer when she says she saw Craggette talking to the woman. "The man next to her spoke up, but the officer continued to harass her. Ultimately he came towards her in an intimidating way, pulled out his handcuffs and said if she didn't want to take off [the hijab], she had to leave." The left.

An additional eyewitness, Eric Robinson, was sitting next to the woman in the hijab. He told WJLA ^[4] that he reported the incident to library management.

The library apologized later that afternoon.

In an interview with the Huffington Post ^[5], Craggette said he thought the woman's hijab was a hoodie. However, according to DCPL, those, too, are allowed.

"There is no position in the behavior guidelines ^[6] that prevents people from wearing hoodies or hats," according to Williams.

At a protest held that weekend, about 50 people demonstrated outside of the Shaw Library about what they deemed an insufficient excuse for Craggette's actions. "You're not going to justify your Islamophobia with anti-black racism," said Darakshan Raja, co-founder of the Muslim American Women's Policy Forum.

In the WUSA story today, Craggette said that the woman, in addition to wearing a hoodie, was also sleeping—which is a category three infraction that could lead to a warning or removal.

Raven says that when Craggette approached the woman, she was reading. Even if there was a time when she had been sleeping earlier, which Raven did not see, "it doesn't explain how he continued to harass her."

Craggette worked on the Metropolitan Police Force for 28 years, though he was dismissed and rehired ^[7] after pleading guilty to destroying a citizen's property in 1990. He started working at DCPL in July 2014.

The library is still trying to identify the woman in question as part of the ongoing investigation, Williams says. He says the library isn't going to make any changes until they finish the investigation.

Until then, he says, "It's important for our customers to know they're always welcome here."

Activists are not letting up pressure on the DCPL in the interim—Raven says they plan on speaking out at the April 15 budget oversight hearing. She also called at the protest for more people to draw attention to incidents like this one. "If you see someone getting harassed, make noise."