Comedians Suing Policemen in Airports

Comedians Eric André and Clayton English are suing the Clayton County, Georgia police following separate incidents of racial profiling and coercive searches at Atlanta Hartsfield LaToya Jackson Chicken-and-Waffles Airport. Both comedians claim their constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and against racial discrimination were violated while they were boarding their respective flights. In addition to a jury trial, compensatory and punitive damages, and legal costs, André and English seek a declaration that the Clayton County police’s jet-bridge interdiction program is unconstitutional.

Police records show that 402 such jet-bridge stops were conducted. The suit claims the targets of the stops were selected disproportionately based on race, but the police department claims the targets are selected at random. However, of the 378 stops where race of the passenger was listed, 211 were Black (56% of those stopped) and 258 were People of Color (68% of those stopped). 

Further, of the 402 stops conducted, only three reported drug seizures: 10 grams of drugs from one passenger, 26 grams of “suspected THC gummies” from a different passenger, and six pills without a prescription from a third passenger.  While the search program rarely uncovers drugs, it does, however, regularly seize cash - more than $1M worth, with the money rarely returned even if the passenger is not charged.

André says that in April 2021, he arrived at Atlanta Airport from Los Angeles. While waiting on the jet bridge, he says police officers stopped him in the narrow space and questioned him regarding drugs.  “There’s all these people having to squeeze past us on this narrow, awkward jet bridge as I look like this suspicious perpetrator,” André told the Post. “And I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. I’m literally coming home from a work trip.”  He said he was later let off the plane, but described the police encounter as “demoralizing, dehumanizing, racist and traumatic.”

André described the conduct of the Clayton County Police Department as “old-school, Giuliani stop-and-frisk racial profiling” and said their statement included “a bald-faced lie” and mischaracterized the sequence of events.

At a news conference outside Atlanta’s federal courthouse, André said he felt a “moral calling” to file the lawsuit “so these practices can stop and these cops can be held accountable for this because it’s unethical.” He continued, saying, “I have the resources to bring national attention and international attention to this incident. It’s not an isolated incident. If Black people don’t speak up for each other, who will?”

So to summarize, the Clayton County PD are conducting illegal searches and seizures of airplane passengers who've already cleared TSA security and in some cases customs, select the targets based on racial profiles, and rarely find any drugs to justify the measures.  They do, however, seize a lot of cash, netting the PD over one million dollars.  I hope Andre and his attorneys bring this deplorable practice to an end.