Ann Arbor family suing Erie Orchard and Cider Mill owner after racist rant against Muslims
ERIE, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - For Ann Arbor resident Joe Mahmoud, he says Sunday was his first time visiting Erie Orchards and Cider Mill in Monroe County, Michigan.
"Have you ever encountered anything like this before?" Mahmoud was asked.
"Never to the extent that I was imprisoned in an orchard," he answered.
Mahmoud says his wife planned what they thought would be a fun outing for him and his three girls at the orchard.
"I've been to other orchards and never experienced any kind of hate, but this one, right when I walked in there at first, I felt it," Mahmoud says.
He tells CBS News Detroit that he and his family felt they were not welcomed, and well, after nearly spending $70, that became more clear when the girls wanted to go back out to pick some peaches.
But after Mahmoud says he received permission and was told not to worry about the price, "He said don't worry about the price. They were all rotten peaches."
Mahmoud was faced with an unexpected problem with owner Steve Elzinga at his car door.
"He opened my door. I found that kind of odd. He was like, 'Okay, where's the bag?' I'm like right there, passenger side floor. He takes the bags and then goes to the back seat and goes through my youngest daughter's bag while my daughter was in the back seat." Mahmoud says.
"He went through your diaper bag?" he was asked. "Yeah, in the car, with her in the car. I felt violated right there," Mahmoud said.
But with all the drama, Mahmoud stayed calm and instead offered to pay for the "rotten peaches" until he saw the bill was $58 bucks.
"I was not going to buy a bag of rotten peaches for $58," he said.
But it's what Elzinga said next that turned a peach problem, for Mahmoud, into a racist one.
"Every Muslim that comes here every week steals from me," Elzinga said in a video recorded from Mahmoud's phone. "Every Muslim that comes here steals from you?!" Mahmoud said while trying to contain his emotion.
"First, I was like, this guy is sick. He needs help, but I got to let the world know this guy is a racist," Mahmoud said.
In the video, Mahmoud can be heard being called "a thief" by Elzinga and was told he was not going to be allowed to leave until he paid his bill.
"I did not know what was going to happen. It was 45 minutes of just trying to get my family calm while this man kept saying he was not going to let me leave," Mahmoud said.
It was a frightful experience that has him now filing a lawsuit with Dearborn Attorney Abdullah Moughni.
"This man said Muslims steal, and you are going to pay for my rotten peaches. In turn, my client said no, you are going to pay for your rotten actions," Moughni says.
"You never see somebody come forward and blatantly say they are racist, and this man was proud of it. We are going to make sure all that pride is wiped away from him.
Mahmoud says he hopes that sharing his story will not only teach Ezinga a lesson but also show that any racism towards any group of people should not and will not be tolerated.
"It was a bad situation, and I just thank God everyone is okay. But no family should have to go through that. No one," Mahmoud says.
An official lawsuit is expected to be filed in the coming days.
In an interview with CBS affiliate WTOL in Toledo, Ezinga apologized and says the incident does not represent him.
