The dismissal of a case filed in 2022 by comedians Eric Andr and Clayton English, who allege their First Amendment rights were infringed, was overturned by a federal appeals court.
In their lawsuit, Andr and English claimed that they were stopped twice by Clayton County authorities at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport while they were about to board aircraft within the jet bridge. The Black celebrities claim they were asked whether they were carrying illegal narcotics and were instructed to present their IDs and flight permits.
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“To be free from unreasonable searches and seizures,” the federal appeal court judgment released on Friday, states that the two claim the officers violated their Fourth Amendment rights. Additionally, they asserted that their race was the reason the officers stopped them.
Due to the plaintiff’s “failure to plausibly allege any constitutional violations,” the district court ultimately dismissed their lawsuit in 2023, and all defendants—including Clayton County and the head of the police department—were granted immunity. However, the decision was overturned “after careful review” by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which stated in its opinion that Andr and English “plausibly alleged that Clayton County subjected them to unreasonable searches and seizures.”
The celebrities claimed that the officers stopped them because of their race, and the court upheld the rest of the district court’s decision.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Clayton County Police Department. Representatives for Andr and English have been contacted by NBC News for comment.
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Two separate incidents, one year apart
In his and Andr’s 2022 complaint, English claims that in 2020, while traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles for work, Clayton County officers stopped him on the jet bridge after he had passed TSA security and had had a gate agent check his boarding pass.
“The officers flashed their badges and asked English whether he was carrying any illegal drugs,” according to the lawsuit. “English denied possessing illicit substances. While the cops were questioning him, the English “understood that he was not free to leave and continue his travel.”
According to the lawsuit, English felt compelled to comply when officers on either side of him blocked his way to the aircraft and requested for his ID and boarding card, which he gave up. English also gave permission for an officer to inspect his carry-on, “believing he had no choice.”
According to the lawsuit, the cops checked English’s backpack and then released him.
“Throughout the encounter, Mr. English was worried that if he said anything the officers perceived as out of line, he would not be allowed to board the plane or reach his destination,” according to the lawsuit.
Andr was on his way to Atlanta in 2021 from Charleston, South Carolina, before returning home to Los Angeles. When he attempted to board his airplane in Atlanta, he was halted on the jet bridge. The lawsuit claims that after passing many security checks, Andr was also halted on the jet bridge.
According to the lawsuit, the comedian denied having any illegal narcotics, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, in his possession when officers queried him about it. He apparently cooperated, thinking he could not refuse, when requested to present his ID and boarding card.
“After approximately five minutes of standing in the narrow jet bridge and being questioned, Mr. Andr was told by the officers that he was free to leave and board the plane,” according to the complaint.
As part of the Clayton County Police Department’s “drug interdiction program,” the stops were made in order to selectively stop travelers on the jet bridge prior to their flight in order to inquire about their drug use and request a search of their luggage. According to the department, the stops are voluntary and random.
According to the court ruling, Andr and English assert that the stops are neither random nor voluntary and that the Clayton County police program targets Black and other passengers of color in particular.
According to police statistics, there were 402 jet bridge stops between August 30, 2020, and April 30, 2021, and 378 of those stops stated the race of the passengers. 211, or 56%, of the 378 passengers were Black, and 258 total stops, or 68%, were made by people of color, according to the celebrities’ lawsuit, The Associated Press said.
The encounter was described by Andr as “dehumanizing and demoralizing.”
In an interview at the time of the lawsuit filing, Andr stated, “People were gawking at me, and I looked suspicious when I had done nothing wrong.”
The court’s decision
The federal appeals court ruled that the complaint adequately claimed that the defendants’ coercive actions during their stops of Andr and English made them feel as though they were “seized” by the officers or that they were not free to leave, which is a plausible allegation that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated.
According to the court, English “plausibly alleged that the officers stopped him and began asking questions without telling him he could leave until after they finished questioning him,” and they reached the same decision as Andr.
However, the court ruled that the comedians could not reasonably claim that the officers stopped them for discriminatory reasons because Andr and English “do not allege that the individual defendants knew of any racially discriminatory complaint or saw the County’s logs or that the County directed the individual defendants to single out Black passengers for interdictions.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that plaintiffs plausibly alleged that defendants violated their Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures,” the judge stated. “Clayton County does not have qualified immunity, but the individual defendants do. Consequently, we overturn Clayton County’s decision to reject the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claims. We uphold the plaintiffs’ remaining claims being dismissed.
