Black Cop Accused Of “Trafficking” His White Wife On Their American Airlines HONEYMOON Flight

A retired black cop has sued American Airlines, alleging that he was falsely accused of human trafficking his white and younger wife on their honeymoon flight to Florida thanks to a dereliction of duty by flight attendants onboard.

Retired Black Cop And His White Wife Detained On Their Honeymoon Flight After Flight Attendants Suspect Human Trafficking

I’ve never been a big fan of “see something, say something” because, over and over again, it has led to very suspect race-based assumptions.

In September 2022, Anthony Williams, 63, and Katsiaryna Shasholka, 34, boarded American Airlines flight 2408 from Phoenix (PHX) to Miami (MIA). The couple had just married and were on their honeymoon flight.

But according to their lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a fellow passenger became “suspicious” of them, reporting the mixed-race couple to flight attendants with the concern that the younger white woman was being transported against her will.

Rather than interview the couple to personally ascertain if there were signs of human trafficking, the flight attendant reported the suspicion to the pilot, who alerted authorities. When the plane landed in Miami, the two were detrained.

“Upon landing, our clients were falsely imprisoned by American Airlines employees who escorted them off of the plane and were made to wait, confused and embarrassed, as the other passengers deplaned and walked by them.”

Miami-Dade police interviewed and released the couple, but both now complain of:

mental pain and suffering
sleeplessness
paranoia
panic attacks
fear
anxiety
embarrassment

Williams reached out to American Airlines the day after the flight to file a complaint, but says he never heard back…leading to the lawsuit. The couple are seeking compensatory and punitive damages plus attorneys’ fees.

Flight attendants are trained to look for a number of signs to identify victims of trafficking, including:

Is the person disoriented or confused, or showing signs of mental or physical abuse?
Does the person have bruises in various stages of healing?
Is the person fearful, timid, or submissive?
Does the person show signs of having been denied food, water, sleep, or medical care?
Is the person in the company of someone to whom he or she defers? Or someone who seems to be in control of the situation, e.g., where they go or who they talk to?
Does the person appear to be coached on what to say?

These are not race-based or age-based factors and none appear present here. Per the lawsuit, the flight attendants did not even engage in conversation with the couple!

I reject the “better safe than sorry” canard without identifying several of the factors above. We could virtually eliminate crime in the USA if everyone was put under house arrest….but liberty is a paramount value in our system of justice.

If Williams’ account is correct, this matter is all the more egregious because flight attendants failed to even approach the couple to assess the matter themselves. Instead, they took the word of a passenger who seemed to have had a problem with the mixed-race couple for reasons that are likely nefarious.

CONCLUSION

A dear client of mine, in his late 70s, just married his long-time girlfriend, in her early 30s. They are a mixed-race couple. And they love each other and I care deeply for both of them. They are frequent flyers and I shudder to think about the whispers of folks around them when they travel. Or my pastor, who is black, and married a Korean-American woman. What kind of slanderous innuendo amongst mettlesome nitwits goes on when he travels with his wife, which is also very frequent?

Folks, the problem here was indeed that the flight attendants failed to show any common sense. But the problem was also the passenger(s) who complained in the first place. A mixed-race couple is not an automatic warrant for additional scrutiny. Nor is age difference absent other triggering factors like signs of duress. A couple enjoying their honeymoon were needlessly hassled and are suing American Airlines. I hope they win big…I reject “better safe than sorry” in the “land of the free and home of the brave.”

Hat Tip: View From The Wing