Security guard denies assaulting Muslim doctor

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A University of Maryland Medical Center security guard Thursday denied assaulting a Muslim doctor who was washing his feet in the hospital’s bathroom sink.

Guard Rodney Corban requested a jury trial in Baltimore City District Court, and his attorney categorized the doctor’s accusations as outrageous.

“His claims are wholly and completely fabricated,” lawyer Twila Driggins said. “They have gotten more and more outrageous as they progressed. First he said it was a verbal confrontation. Then he said it got physical. Then he alleged it was racially motivated.”

Dr. Mohammed Hussain, 61, a Waldorf radiologist, filed criminal charges in May against Corban, accusing the guard of manhandling and humiliating him before his scheduled outpatient surgery for tongue cancer.

The charges follow a $30 million lawsuit Hussain filed against the hospital in April, alleging he was forcibly removed from the hospital after a guard found him in the lobby bathroom performing an Islamic purification ritual.

Hussain was washing his hands and feet in a hospital bathroom March 22 when Corban saw him and started screaming at him, the doctor said.

Corban then dragged Hussain out of the bathroom and pushed him down the lobby hallway, yelling racial epithets, his lawsuit states.

Hussain, who is Indian-American, tried to tell Corban that he was a patient but was ordered to leave the hospital, according to charging documents.

“It was quite frightening,” Hussain said outside the courtroom at the District Court in South Baltimore on Thursday. “He thought I was either homeless or a terrorist.”

Hussain’s attorney, David Ellin, said the doctor is credible.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Dr. Hussain was assaulted,” Ellin said.

But Driggins disputed that.

“This individual was washing his feet in a sink,” she said. “Mr. Corban had every right to question him and find out what he was doing. There was no assault.”

Corban’s trial on a charge of misdemeanor second-degree assault is set for Aug. 6 in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

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