Actor and Comedian Sues San Mateo County, Alleging Abuse and Unlawful Detainment

“ The comedian in me said, ‘You know, you work in customer service, not customer attitude,’ and she didn’t like that,” Ahmed told KQED. The employee threatened to call the police. “I replied with, ‘For what? Being awesome?’ And then she snapped.”

He said San Francisco Police arrested him minutes later and took him to Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City. Upon his arrival, Ahmed continued, several San Mateo County deputies were there waiting for him, and proceeded to physically beat and “torture” him.

Now, Ahmed is suing San Mateo County and the former county sheriff, claiming that he sustained physical and psychological damage during his 21 hours in custody.

Ahmed told KQED he was “completely compliant” — but was left with disabling injuries, including broken bones and nerve damage. He said that during the assault, deputies attempted to strip him from the waist down, then strapped him to a chair and pulled a hood over his head. He said he was denied food, water and the opportunity to use a bathroom during this time.

Later into the night, Ahmed recounted, he began yelling aloud, talking about who he was.

“I said, ‘Hey, my name’s Ahmed Ahmed. I’m an international professional stand-up comedian. I’ve been in blockbuster movies, TV shows, multiple comedy specials. … If you don’t let me out of this chair right now, I’m going to blow the whistle on everybody in this building.’”

Only then, he said, was he unstrapped, but he remained in custody for several hours.

He said that at around 9:30 p.m. on the following day, he was released.

In a statement, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office wrote that it is “aware of the complaint and takes allegations of this magnitude extremely seriously.”

The office said that it conducted an internal investigation in 2025, and that “the evidence disputes Mr. Ahmed’s version of events,” but it did not provide additional details.

The statement added that the office was not involved with the arrest at SFO, and that Ahmed was held for public intoxication. But Ahmed said he was never informed of his charges, even after his release, and alleged that he was not allowed to speak with a lawyer while detained.

Ahmed said that the complaint, filed June 15, was the first time he publicly addressed the attack.

He also added that one of the first people he discussed it with afterward was longtime friend Tom Morello, the lead singer and guitarist of Rage Against the Machine. Morello connected him to attorney Nicholas Rowley, a founding partner of the law firm Trial Lawyers for Justice, who is now representing Ahmed in his lawsuit.

After speaking with Rowley, Ahmed said, “I felt saved.”

Rowley told KQED that he decided to take on Ahmed as a client to prevent a similar incident from happening to anyone else. He added that Ahmed’s status as a public figure “might have saved his life.”

“They picked a fight with the wrong guy,” Rowley told KQED. “He’s somebody who is well-known and well-connected.”

“We’re going to find out who the members of this law enforcement gang are,” Rowley said.

Rowley and Ahmed both believe Ahmed was targeted for his ethnicity. Although he was born in Egypt, Ahmed was raised in Riverside, California, and is an American citizen.

“I wasn’t committing a crime. I didn’t threaten anybody. I didn’t hit anybody. I wasn’t yelling and screaming. I wasn’t resisting,” Ahmed said. ”I hate to throw out the race card, but being an Arab Muslim in America these days, fricking sucks, man.”

Since 9/11, he said he’s been “arrested, detained, and profiled probably over 100 times — always at the airport.“ But Ahmed said he had never been physically beaten like this before while traveling.

Since the arrest, he’s felt physically and spiritually “broken.”

“I lost friends, I lost work, I lost my girlfriend,” Ahmed said. “Psychologically, it just messed me up.”

But performing, he added, has been his “saving grace.”

“The happiest I’ve ever been in the past eight months is when I’m on stage making people laugh,” Ahmed said.