Hysteria and Credulity

In a bizarre incident that speaks eloquently to the dangers of presumption and the perils of abject idiocy, an unidentified amateur photographer was falsely imprisoned, denied his rights to counsel, and defamed by print and social media when a woman seated next to him on an American Airlines flight from Indianapolis to New York’s LaGuardia Airport mistook his vintage camera for an explosive device.

According to a lawsuit being brought against American Airlines, a female passenger with an infant seated next to the plaintiff treated him with suspicion for an extended portion of the flight, repeatedly leaving her assigned seat and attempting to move elsewhere within the aircraft. The woman brought her concerns about the plaintiff to flight attendants, whom the lawsuit states made no attempt to speak to the plaintiff, nor inquire after the contents of his carry-on luggage.

Upon the aircraft’s descent into La Guardia, the plaintiff retrieved his camera to take a photograph of the New York City skyline, at which point his accuser began yelling, “Don’t do it!” and “We’re dead!” The disturbance compelled the flight-crew to make an abrupt landing and evacuate the aircraft. The plaintiff was detained on the ramp by emergency responders who remanded him to the custody of federal investigators.

The flight’s cockpit and cabin crewmembers would later tell officials that they believed the Plaintiff to be a threat because, according to the female passenger, he “had something dangerous,” “was timing the flight with a timing device,” “was texting pictures of bombs” and “was looking at pictures of bombs and how to put bombs together.”

Investigators found no evidence on the plaintiff’s iPhone or amongst his belongings to support the passenger’s accusations or the aircrew’s actions. Nevertheless, the plaintiff endured a protracted imprisonment—during which he was reportedly neither read his rights nor allowed a phone call. Federal agents ultimately dropped the plaintiff off at a taxi stand in the middle of the night.

American Airlines has issued no apology for the incident.

Local news reports subsequently declared the incident involved “erratic behavior” and “a disruptive passenger.” The New York Times proclaimed the aircraft’s pilot told authorities “a person, a suspicious person, has an item that looks like an explosive device.”

A Port Authority spokesman later informed reporters that law enforcement “... determined that there was no criminality on the part of the passenger, and he was released.”

“The pilots and flight attendants escalated, embellished, and further exaggerated the unreal and invented threat,” the lawsuit states. “The Defendants and their employees, contractors, and agents caused the mass hysteria event that egregiously, and without any evidence, harmed [plaintiff].’

FMI: www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth_amendment