Comedians Eric André and Clayton English are challenging a police program atthe Atlanta airport they say violates the constitutional rights of airlinepassengers, particularly Black passengers, through racial profiling andcoercive searches just as they are about to board their flights.
Lawyers for the two men filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Atlantaalleging that they were racially profiled and illegally stopped by ClaytonCounty police at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The two men, well known comedians and actors, say officers singled them outduring separate stops roughly six months apart because they are Black andgrilled them about drugs as other passengers watched.
“People were gawking at me and I looked suspicious when I had done nothingwrong,” André said in an interview, calling the experience “dehumanizing anddemoralizing.”
While the stated purpose of the program is to fight drug trafficking, thelawsuit says, drugs are rarely found, criminal charges seldom result, andseized cash provides a financial windfall for the police department.
Clayton County police officers and investigators from the county districtattorney’s office selectively stop passengers in the narrow jet bridges usedto access planes, the lawsuit says. The officers take the passengers’ boardingpasses and identification and interrogate them, sometimes searching theirbags, before they board their flights, the lawyers say in the lawsuit.
The police department calls the stops “consensual encounters” and says theyare “random,” but in reality the stops “rely on coercion, and targets areselected disproportionately based on their race,” the lawyers argue.
The Clayton County Police Department did not immediately respond Tuesday to anemail seeking comment.
Police records show that from Aug. 30, 2020, to April 30, 2021, there were 402jet bridge stops, and the passenger’s race was listed for 378 of those stops.Of those 378 passengers, 211, or 56%, were Black, and people of coloraccounted for 258 total stops, or 68%, the lawsuit says.
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Those 402 stops resulted in three reported drug seizures: about 10 grams ofdrugs from one passenger, 26 grams of “suspected THC gummies” from another,and six prescription pills without a prescription from a third, the lawsuitsays. Only the first and third person were charged.
Those 402 stops also yielded more than $1 million in cash and money ordersfrom a total of 25 passengers. All but one were allowed to continue theirtravels, and only two — the ones who also had drugs — were charged, thelawsuit says. Eight of the 25 challenged the seizures, and Clayton Countypolice settled each case, returning much of the seized money, the lawsuitsays.
Carrying large quantities of cash doesn’t mean someone is involved in illegaldrug activity, the lawyers argue in the lawsuit, noting that people of colorare less likely to have bank accounts and are more likely to carry large sumswhen they travel.
English was stopped while flying from Atlanta, where he lives, to Los Angelesfor work on Oct. 30, 2020, the lawsuit says. André had finished a shoot forHBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” and was traveling from Charleston, SouthCarolina, to his home in Los Angeles on April 21, 2020, when he was stoppedafter a layover in Atlanta.
Clayton English, Eric André, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy outside the federalcourthouse in Atlanta (Kate Brumback / AP)
Officers blocked them as they entered the jet bridge and asked if they werecarrying illegal drugs, the lawsuit says. Both were asked to hand about theirboarding passes and identification. An officer said he wanted to searchEnglish’s bag, and English agreed, not believing he had a choice.
“I felt completely powerless. I felt violated. I felt cornered,” English saidat a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta. “I felt like Ihad to comply if I wanted everything to go smoothly.”
André complained about his stop right after it happened. Clayton County policesaid at the time that it was “consensual.”
“Mr. Andre chose to speak with investigators during the initial encounter,”the department said in a statement posted on Facebook. “During the encounter,Mr. Andre voluntarily provided the investigators information as to his travelplans. mr. Andre also voluntarily consented to a search of his luggage but theinvestigators chose not to do so.”
André said he felt a “moral calling” to bring the lawsuit “so these practicescan stop and these cops can be held accountable for this because it’sunethical.”
“I have the resources to bring national attention and international attentionto this incident. It’s not an isolated incident,” he said. “If Black peopledon’t speak up for each other, who will?”
One of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit, NYU School of Law Policing Projectco-founder Barry Friedman, encouraged anyone else who has had similarexperiences to get in touch.
The lawsuit names Clayton County and the police chief, as well as four policeofficers and a district attorney’s office investigator. It alleges violationsof the constitutional rights that protect against unreasonable seizures andseizures and against racial discrimination.
The comedians seek a jury trial and ask that the Clayton County police jetbridge interdiction program be declared unconstitutional. They also seekcompensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal costs.
This story first appeared on APNews.com.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com