I-95 Standoff Suspect Sues State, Demands Money, Written Apology

WAKEFIELD, MA — The leader of a group that was arrested after an armed standoff on a Massachusetts highway wants $1,000 for each day he has been in jail since his July 3 arrest and a written apology from Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey.

Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey, of Providence, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston this week. In his handwritten complaint, Talib says state police violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms when police questioned and, after an eight-hour standoff, arrested them during a middle-of-the-night traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Wakefield over the Fourth of July weekend.

Talib is the leader of the Pawtucket-based group "Rise of the Moors." He is suing over his arrest and ongoing jail time, claiming a violation of his Second Amendment rights. His complaint, as well as two others filed by Moorish sovereign citizens against Massachusetts, cites multiple cases that he says protects the rights of armed militias to pack weapons to protect themselves.

Talib says his heavily armed group never should have been questioned, never mind arrested in Wakefield on their way from Providence to Maine to train on the "large-capacity" firearms they had with them on July 3.

In his lawsuit, Talib says state police discriminated against members of the group and allowed it to escalate into a standoff involving more than 200 police officers. According to court documents, the group accused state police and the other defendants of "defamation and discrimination of national origin and deprivation of rights under color of law."

Talib references the rulings on cases he brought up, including one case involving stun guns in Massachusetts, that protected the rights of militias like his to prepare for "a foreign invasion from the Northern States, or an act of domestic terrorism in the northern States, such as Maine."

Talib also referenced Massachusetts's strict gun-control laws, which bans certain types of automatic weapons.

In the letter, Talib claims a federal court decision created a legal definition of an acceptable militia. By definition, members must wear uniforms, have a chain of command, open-carry weapons, and practice with their weapons, which is what he claimed the group was on their way to do when stopped.

Earlier this month, members of the group refused to give their names, enter pleas or recognize the authority of the court when appearing before a judge in Malden. Most of the members refused a court-appointed attorney, asking instead for someone not licensed to practice law in Massachusetts to represent them.

In the federal complaint, the group claimed that "any proceedings of a case to which a Moor is a party is a violation of that Moors' constitutionally secured rights," citing a treaty between the United States and the Moroccan Empire signed in the 1780s. The document also claims that "Moors are not, nor have ever been ... a 'U.S. Citizen.'"

The Rise of the Moors group is part of a sovereign citizen movement deemed by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be extremist. They claim to be outside federal and state jurisdiction.

Patch Editor Rachel Nunes contributed to this report.