A couple of days before the 2024 Presidential Election, a woman named Sloan Rachmuth was unjustly arrested in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Her crime? Complaining about a supermarket employee wearing a keffiyeh (a headdress worn throughout the Middle East but also a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinians).
On October 31, 2024, Rachmuth went to a supermarket named Harris Teeter (a subsidiary of Kroger) when she saw one of its employees named Amira M. Fattah wearing a keffiyeh. After Fattah said she was wearing it to support the Palestinian cause, Rachmuth (who is Jewish and a supporter of Israel) complained to the store’s manager Sheronna Irick, who dismissed her concern. A complaint to the Harris Teeter corporate office was also dismissed.
Rachmuth then took to social media about the incident, posting a photo of Fattah wearing her keffiyeh on X. Someone (perhaps Irick) notified the police.
Soon afterwards, three police officers- Elliott Warren, Benjamin Marino, and Edgar Hernandez, showed up at Rachmuth’s house with a warrant for her arrest. The charge: a bias-motivated offense (whatever that is). When Rachmuth asked what she was being arrested for, Officer Marino replied that it was something that made Fattah uncomfortable. And Officer Warren (who obtained the warrant), accused Rachmuth of using her cellphone to “harass, embarrass, and terrify” Fattah.
At any rate, Rachmuth’s arrest (which was recorded on video) showed her being handcuffed and paraded through the neighborhood. And even though she was charged for a misdemeanor that did not mandate being arrested, her bail was set at $1,000 in cash- an amount usually reserved for more serious offenses. She was also treated like a violent criminal while being booked.
Meanwhile, the liberal media and various leftists got wind of the incident and launched a smear campaign against Rachmuth.
Rachmuth was eventually charged with cyberstalking, despite taking a photo of someone and commenting about that individual does not constitute such an offense, especially since there was no repeated behavior (which is something required under North Carolina’s cyberstalking law). Fortunately, Lorrin Freeman (the Wake County District Attorney) acknowledged this and dropped the charges against Rachmuth.
Despite being freed, Rachmuth had suffered a terrible ordeal: the arrest, the smear campaign, and the trauma.
Such an incident raises the following questions:
- Who contacted the police over this incident? Was it Fattah, Irick, or someone at Harris Teeter’s corporate office?
- Who ordered Rachmuth’s arrest?
- Why were the police so eager in arresting Rochmuth without looking into the matter? Was it a knee-jerk reaction? Was it retaliation over Rachmuth’s complaints over her being stalked and harassed in 2022 and
2023 due to being Jewish and having an Israeli husband- complaints over which the police took little, if any action? - Was this incident an intimidation tactic being orchestrated by Islamists and their leftist allies, using the police to do their dirty work?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rachmuth brings a lawsuit against the Holly Springs Police Department, Harris Teeter, Fattah, and Irick.
In conclusion, this incident is outrageous- a blatant attack on the First Amendment.
