Gary couple sues Louis Farrakhan

Associated Press/July 4, 2003

Valparaiso, Ind. -- A Gary couple claims in a lawsuit that Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is partly to blame for a hit-and-run accident that led to his son's arrest on drunken driving charges.

The elder Farrakhan acted negligently when he turned his 1997 Hummer over to Joshua Nasir H. Farrakhan when he knew, or should have known, his son's driver's license was suspended or revoked, Gladys and Charles Peterson alleged in documents filed Thursday in Porter Superior Court.

The court documents add Farrakhan's name to a lawsuit originally filed in May.

The Petersons were injured May 10 when Nasir Farrakhan struck their car on the Indiana Toll Road in LaPorte County about 50 miles east of Chicago, according to the lawsuit.

In a separate but related case, Farrakhan, 44, of Chicago, has pleaded innocent to charges of driving while intoxicated, possession of drug paraphernalia and leaving the scene of an accident.

A portable breath test given to Farrakhan at the time of his May 10 arrest showed he had only a blood-alcohol concentration at 0.001 percent, well below Indiana's legal limit of 0.08 percent to drive.

There was no number for Louis Farrakhan in published listings for Chicago. A message seeking comment was left after hours at Farrakhan's mosque.