Comedians sue over drug search program at Atlanta airport

ATLANTA – Comedians Eric André and Clayton English are difficult a police program on the Atlanta airport they are saying violates the constitutional rights of airline passengers, notably Black passengers, by way of racial profiling and coercive searches simply as they’re about to board their flights.

Legal professionals for the 2 males filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court docket in Atlanta alleging that they have been racially profiled and illegally stopped by Clayton County police at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport.

The 2 males, well-known comedians and actors, say officers singled them out throughout separate stops roughly six months aside as a result of they’re Black and grilled them about medication as different passengers watched.

SANTA ANA, CA – OCTOBER 22: Comic Eric Andre performs onstage through the Seaside Goth Pageant at The Observatory on October 22, 2016 in Santa Ana, California. (Picture by Scott Dudelson/Getty Photographs)

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“Folks have been gawking at me and I regarded suspicious once I had carried out nothing mistaken,” André mentioned in an interview, calling the expertise “dehumanizing and demoralizing.”

Whereas the said goal of this system is to battle drug trafficking, the lawsuit says, medication are not often discovered, legal costs seldom outcome, and seized money gives a monetary windfall for the police division.

Clayton County law enforcement officials and investigators from the county district lawyer’s workplace selectively cease passengers within the slender jet bridges used to entry planes, the lawsuit says. The officers take the passengers’ boarding passes and identification and interrogate them, typically looking out their luggage, earlier than they board their flights, the legal professionals say within the lawsuit.

The police division calls the stops “consensual encounters” and says they’re “random,” however in actuality the stops “depend on coercion, and targets are chosen disproportionately based mostly on their race,” the legal professionals argue.

Clayton County police spokesperson Julia Isaac mentioned the division doesn’t touch upon pending litigation.

Police data present that from Aug. 30, 2020, to April 30, 2021, there have been 402 jet bridge stops, and the passenger’s race was listed for 378 of these stops. Of these 378 passengers, 211, or 56%, have been Black, and other people of coloration accounted for 258 whole stops, or 68%, the lawsuit says.

These 402 stops resulted in three reported drug seizures: about 10 grams of medicine from one passenger, 26 grams of “suspected THC gummies” from one other, and 6 prescription capsules and not using a prescription from a 3rd, the lawsuit says. Solely the primary and third individual have been charged.

The TSA safety checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport on June 8, 2022. (FOX 5)

These 402 stops additionally yielded greater than $1 million in money and cash orders from a complete of 25 passengers. All however one have been allowed to proceed their travels, and solely two — those who additionally had medication — have been charged, the lawsuit says. Eight of the 25 challenged the seizures, and Clayton County police settled every case, returning a lot of the seized cash, the lawsuit says.

Carrying giant portions of money doesn’t imply somebody is concerned in unlawful drug exercise, the legal professionals argue within the lawsuit, noting that folks of coloration are much less more likely to have financial institution accounts and usually tend to carry giant sums after they journey.

English was stopped whereas flying from Atlanta, the place he lives, to Los Angeles for work on Oct. 30, 2020, the lawsuit says. André had completed a shoot for HBO’s “The Righteous Gems” and was touring from Charleston, South Carolina, to his house in Los Angeles on April 21, 2020, when he was stopped after a layover in Atlanta.

Officers blocked them as they entered the jet bridge and requested in the event that they have been carrying unlawful medication, the lawsuit says. Each have been requested at hand over their boarding passes and identification. An officer mentioned he needed to look English’s bag, and English agreed, not believing he had a alternative.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 19: ‘Final Comedian Standing Winner’ Clayton English visits SiriusXM Studios on October 19, 2015 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Anna Webber/Getty Photographs)

“I felt fully powerless. I felt violated. I felt cornered,” English mentioned at a information convention outdoors the federal courthouse in Atlanta. “I felt like I needed to comply if I needed the whole lot to go easily.”

André complained about his cease proper after it occurred. Clayton County police mentioned on the time that it was “consensual.”

“Mr. Andre selected to talk with investigators through the preliminary encounter,” the division mentioned in a press release posted on Fb. “Through the encounter, Mr. Andre voluntarily supplied the investigators info as to his journey plans. Mr. Andre additionally voluntarily consented to a search of his baggage however the investigators selected not to take action.”

André mentioned he felt a “ethical calling” to carry the lawsuit “so these practices can cease and these cops will be held accountable for this as a result of it’s unethical.”

“I’ve the sources to carry nationwide consideration and worldwide consideration to this incident. It’s not an remoted incident,” he mentioned. “If Black folks don’t converse up for one another, who will?”

One of many legal professionals who filed the lawsuit, NYU College of Regulation Policing Mission co-founder Barry Friedman, inspired anybody else who has had related experiences to get in contact.

The lawsuit names Clayton County and the police chief, in addition to 4 law enforcement officials and a district lawyer’s workplace investigator. It alleges violations of the constitutional rights that defend in opposition to unreasonable searches and seizures and in opposition to racial discrimination.

The comedians search a jury trial and ask that the Clayton County police jet bridge interdiction program be declared unconstitutional. In addition they search compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to authorized prices.