James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA – A Muslim former Temple University police officer is suing after he was fired for not responding to a call while on one of his approved prayer breaks.
Mamadou Sow’s lawsuit against the school, filed Sept. 2 in Philadelphia federal court, says he had obtained religious accommodations for his beard and for five five-minute prayer breaks each day, but trouble started when he was assigned to work with a new field training officer in April 2025.
An acrimonious relationship featuring the two men lodging complaints against the other came to a head in July 2025 as Sow took a prayer break and Andrew Venini, honored months before as Temple’s “Officer of the Year,” left without him to respond to the call, the suit alleges.
“When Plaintiff was done praying, he saw a missed call from Venini and then noticed that Venini had left the department,” the suit says. “When Plaintiff called Venini to ask where he was, Venini was very angry at Plaintiff for not responding to his call.”
Given that his prayer breaks only lasted five minutes, Sow routinely turned his phone off to focus and asked that he only be physically interrupted in the case of an emergency. He was left behind as Venini took their vehicle.
Venini repeatedly asked Sow why he did not answer his call, the suit says. Three months earlier, Venini had filed a complaint with human resources over the praying, it adds, and no action was taken against Sow.
This time it was Sow’s turn to complain, sending an email asking for Venini to stop harassing him about praying – “However, no one ever spoke to Plaintiff about his very serious discrimination complaint,” the suit says.
Two weeks later, Sow was called into a meeting with two captains who asked why he did not answer Venini’s call, and he explained he was taking his approved prayer-break. He was fired eight days later.
“It was disgusting, egregious, and illustrative of reckless indifference that Plaintiff: (1) would be terminated on account of a complaining supervisor who was knowingly harassing Plaintiff for prayer and racial issues; (2) after ignoring Plaintiff’s complaints of discrimination; and (3) for an issue almost a month earlier after Plaintiff had been working well under a different supervisor,” the suit says.
Sow seeks damages under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and is represented by Ari Karpf of Karpf, Karpf & Cerutti. Among Karpf’s recent discrimination cases is a white Philadelphia Fire Department lieutenant who says promotions are going to Black employees and a white woman who alleges she was called a “cracker” at the Philadelphia YMCA.
