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Wrong guy

Medical student Omer Choudhary and two classmates were wrongly singled out during 9/11 anniversary angst in 2002.

By ALISA ULFERTS Times Staff Writer
Published September 11, 2006

	FIVE YEARS AFTER 9/11 A FIVE-DAY SPECIAL REPORT
	Our war casualties: A Multimedia Report It's Your Times: Share your thoughts Looking out for Roberta (9/3/6) THURSDAY: Facing a world without CeeCee By Meg Laughlin For a Florida family, the events that shook the nation were very personal and would be felt long beyond one infamous day. Go to article A Times reader shares how she was affected by 9/11: Life changes FRIDAY: Facing a world without CeeCee: Day Two By Meg Laughlin CeeCee Lyles was the glue that held her family together. When her plane crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, the family fell apart. Go to article Travelers now shrug off terror's price By Michael Kruse Early resistance to the inconveniences of security checks has given way to acceptance. Go to article A Times reader shares how she was affected by 9/11: History adds clouds of doubt for future SATURDAY: Faith's friction By Sherri Day A Tampa woman who lost eight relatives in the attacks converts to Islam as tensions simmer from the memories and new terror plots. But she presses on. Go to article Facing a world without CeeCee: Day Three By Meg Laughlin CeeCee Lyles' family broke apart after her death on 9/11. Time did not heal, it only seemed to separate them further. Go to article SUNDAY They grow up, very carefully By John Barry On 9/11, they were too young to comprehend what was happening. Now entering their teens, they speak with the solemnity of adults. They cope. And they pray. Go to article ON TAMPABAY.COM: A multimedia gallery of faces of Tampa Bay men and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Go to gallery MONDAY Facing a world without CeeCee: Day Five By Meg Laughlin When CeeCee Lyles was born on Thanksgiving 1967, she had two mothers: her birth mother, Shirley Adderly, who was 17, and her adopted mother, Shirley's older sister, Carrie Ross, who was 28. Go to article She flies on, pain still there By Vanessa Gezari Kerry Firth says her job as a flight attendant has been altered by 9/11. She talks of "this constant, constant stress.'' Go to article Anthrax scare, terror mistake take toll By Helen Huntley American Media, publisher of the National Inquirer and other magazines, has yet to recover from the anthrax attack on its building in 2001. The crime is still unsolved. Go to article

It has been four years since Omer Choudhary spent 17 shoeless hours in a squad car along Alligator Alley's mile marker 92.

It has been four years since "valid and reliable intelligence" - the suspicions of a Shoney's customer - led a swarm of 100 law enforcement agents to Choudhary and his two classmates. While the world watched, the agents ripped into the men's clothes, dented their cars and dissembled their electronics in what would be a fruitless search for explosives. Police removed the students' shoes to discourage escape.

It has been four years since the agents realized Choudhary and his friends - Americans of Middle Eastern descent - were innocents tangled up in 9/11 anniversary angst. And it has been four years since those agents and the Shoney's customer who wrote down the students' car tags were publicly thanked by Gov. Jeb Bush for their vigilance.

That's the one part of the nightmare that still troubles Choudhary.

"He (Bush) never called us to say he was sorry for the misunderstanding," Choudhary said last month from his home in Fresno, Calif.

The events began when the three medical students - Choudhary, Ayman Gheith and Kambiz Butt - stopped at a Shoney's restaurant in Georgia for breakfast on their way to Larkin Community Hospital in Miami for training.

It was Sept. 12, 2002, a year and a day after the attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and retired nurse Eunice Stone was having breakfast at the restaurant with her son. She told police she overheard one of the students say, "If they are mourning Sept. 11, what will they think of Sept. 13?" Another student, according to Stone, asked, "Do you think we have enough to bring it down?" - to which another said he had "contacts" who would help. The students then talked about going to Miami. Stone noted their car tags and passed the numbers on to police, who caught up with the men after midnight.

Choudhary, who was riding with Butt, says he had asked his friends during breakfast if they thought he had enough money to bring his car down to Miami from New Jersey. He said Gheith offered to contact friends in New Jersey to help bring the car down.

"It was all just a misunderstanding, but I think it could have been handled better," said Choudhary, now 27.

Choudhary never got his apology, nor thanks for his understanding of the misunderstanding. He hasn't seen any compensation for the thousands of dollars in damage he and his friends estimate was done to their cars, clothes and belongings.

Yet Choudhary has moved on - almost. He has finished medical school and expects to begin a three-year residency in internal medicine in a few months. After that, he plans to specialize in gastroenterology. He married two years ago. His wife, Sara, is a dentist.

But he and his lawyer worry that there could still be a criminal charge hanging over his head.

"They've never contacted me to tell me it's closed," attorney David Kubiliun said. While he doesn't anticipate that any charges will be filed, Kubiliun said it would be nice if Florida and Georgia authorities would close the case.

Officials with the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Florida and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation say they have turned over all their files to Georgia District Attorney Joseph Campbell. Campbell's office says it has no charges on file.

[Last modified September 11, 2006, 16:19:33]