A Portland man convicted of threatening two Black women last summer has been barred from contacting them by a civil injunction.
Alishah Sayed, 28, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of criminal threatening and one count of terrorizing after he threatened and shouted racial slurs at the women, one of whom worked at a public library and the other at his apartment building, according to court records.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey Press Herald photo
Superior Justice Deborah Cashman granted Attorney General Aaron Frey’s request for a permanent injunction through a default judgment last Tuesday under the Maine Civil Rights Act.
Frey wrote in the injunction request that Sayed “intentionally interfered with the victims’ rights to engage in lawful activities without being subject to physical force or violence” based upon their race.
If Sayed violates the civil order by contacting either woman or by violating the Maine Civil Rights Act again, he faces a new Class D charge that would be punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
On Monday, Portland police confirmed that Sayed was charged on Friday with assault, refusing to submit to arrest and disorderly conduct. Asked whether the alleged assault would have violated the injunction, a department spokesperson said that Sayed’s case is still active and he couldn’t provide details about it.
Danna Hayes, a spokesman for Frey’s office, said prosecutors brought the civil action “to protect the victims and the community.”
“Once a defendant is discharged from jail and probation in the criminal case, there are no formal restrictions in place preventing contact with the victim,” Hayes wrote in an email.
While his case was pending, Sayed spent about a month at a psychiatric hospital for a competency evaluation and treatment, according to court records. The Department of Health and Human Services determined the hospitalization was no longer necessary in December 2022. Sayed was then ordered in January to serve 90 days on the criminal charges.
Hayes did not answer questions about whether concerns around Sayed’s competency had any bearing on Frey’s decision to file a civil action.
Sayed had a history of police encounters when officers were dispatched to the library last August, according to a report written by Portland Police Officer Zachery Grass.
Library staff called to report a man was yelling and refusing to leave. The man was gone by the time police arrived, but Grass wrote that he recognized Sayed from previous encounters, after reviewing security footage.
Sayed had been standing near another patron when an employee said she approached him to ask if he needed help. She told police that Sayed “got in her face” and asked, “Does it look like I need anything?” She said he continued to launch several expletives at her, including racial slurs.
She told police that he followed her as she walked the patron away and got in her face again, telling her to “watch her back” and that he would be looking for her.
At Sayed’s apartment that afternoon, officers talked to an employee who said Sayed had been aggressive with her. He again shouted racial slurs at the woman, who said she had to run into a classroom near her office to get away from Sayed.
Frey has requested injunctions for civil rights violations in three other cases this year, Hayes said.
Frey filed a similar motion in June, accusing a Florida woman of yelling a racially charged expletive and threatening to hit another woman with her vehicle in Kennebunkport.
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