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Charges dismissed for man accused of urinating on Chattanooga mosque

Staff photo by Ellen Gerst / Shady's Corner, a bar opened in April, sits next to the annex hall of the Islamic Center in 2023.
Staff photo by Ellen Gerst / Shady's Corner, a bar opened in April, sits next to the annex hall of the Islamic Center in 2023.

By Ellen Gerst 3 min read

Charges were dismissed Monday for a Chattanooga man accused of urinating on a local mosque, according to court records.

Sawyer Byers, 28, was arrested in early March and charged with vandalism and indecent exposure after reports he urinated on the doorstep of Chattanooga’s Islamic Center on Cemetery Avenue in late February.

(READ MORE: Man arrested Thursday after reports of urinating on Chattanooga mosque)

According to a police report, Byers said he did not know the building was a mosque when he urinated there.

Hammad El-Ameen, imam at the center’s Masjid Muhammad, reported the incident to police after seeing it captured on the center’s doorbell camera. The center has had more disturbances since the opening of Shady’s Corner, a bar on the same block, in 2023, El-Ameen previously said.