Man pleads guilty to grabbing, taking off woman's hijab
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A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge after authorities say he grabbed a Muslim woman's hijab on a Southwest Airlines flight in December and pulled it off.
Federal authorities say 37-year-old Gill Parker Payne, of Gastonia, North Carolina, entered the plea Friday. He was charged with using force or threat of force to obstruct a Muslim woman in the free exercise of her religious beliefs.
The two were on a Dec. 11 flight from Chicago to Albuquerque when the confrontation happened.
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Authorities say Payne approached the woman, who was sitting several rows in front of him, and told her to take off her hijab — an Islamic-style headscarf — saying, "This is America!" He then removed the hijab from her head.