ATLANTA (AP) — Comedians Eric André & Clayton English are challenging a police program at the Atlanta airport they say violates the constitutional rights of airline passengers through racial profiling & coercive searches.
The 2 men filed a lawsuit in Atlanta alleging that they were racially profiled & illegally stopped by at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
They say officers singled them out during separate stops roughly 6 months apart because they are Black & grilled them about drugs as other passengers watched.
Officers blocked them as they entered the jet bridge & asked if they were carrying illegal drugs. Both were asked to hand over their boarding passes & identification. An officer said he wanted to search English’s bag & he agreed, not believing he had a choice.
The police department calls the stops “consensual encounters” & says they are “random,” but in reality the stops “rely on coercion & targets are selected disproportionately based on their race,” the lawyers argue.
From Aug. 30, 2020, to April 30, 2021, there were 402 jet bridge stops & the passenger’s race was listed for 378 of those stops. Of those 378 passengers, 56% were Black & people of color accounted for 68%.
Those 402 stops resulted in 3 reported drug seizures: about 10 grams of drugs, 26 grams of “suspected THC gummies” & 6 prescription pills without a prescription.
Those stops yielded more than $1 million in cash from 25 passengers. 8 challenged the seizures & Clayton County returned much of the money.
Carrying large quantities of cash doesn’t mean someone is involved in illegal drug activity, the lawyers argue, noting that people of color are less likely to have bank accounts & are more likely to carry large sums when they travel.
The 2 seek a jury trial & ask that the jet bridge interdiction program be declared unconstitutional. They also seek compensatory & punitive damages, as well as legal costs.
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