ThrobbingHood
Breh&Breh Associates™
A retired police officer headed to Florida for his honeymoon was falsely accused of human trafficking by a traveler who spotted the ex-cop, who is Black, with his new wife, who is white, and believed he was witnessing a crime in progress, according to a bombshell federal lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
In September 2022, newlyweds Anthony Williams and Katsiaryna Shasholka were aboard American Airlines flight 2408, from their hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, to Miami, when a fellow passenger became suspicious and reported the mixed-race couple to the cabin crew, the complaint states.
The passenger claimed Williams, 63, was transporting Shasholka, 34, against her will, an obvious example of racial profiling and abject discrimination, it says.
He “had no reason to believe… Shasholka was in any danger,” the complaint goes on, which includes a selfie the happy couple took during the flight of themselves smiling and enjoying themselves. Nevertheless, crewmembers took the passenger at his word and — without doing any of their own due diligence — told law enforcement that Williams was trafficking his own wife, according to the complaint.
“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,” the complaint goes on.
Williams and Shasholka were then questioned by officers with the Miami-Dade Police Department, leaving the two “humiliated,” the complaint contends, which says the entire interaction was captured on camera.
The experience has since caused the two “mental pain and suffering, sleeplessness, paranoia, panic attacks, fear, anxiety, [and] embarrassment,” the complaint states.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Williams told The Independent that he contacted American the next day and was told to file a complaint online, but has never heard back since. He said the episode continues to affect both him and Shasholka, who recently had a panic attack while the two were flying to Dubai.
“There was nothing in our interactions the entire flight that would be indicative of somebody who was being held against their will,” Williams said. “We were just two people having a good time.”
Attorney Jasmine Rand, a noted civil rights crusader who has represented the families of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teen who was shot dead in 2012 by an overeager neighborhood watch captain, and George Floyd, an unarmed Black man strangled to death in 2020 by Minneapolis police, filed the suit on behalf of Williams and Shasholka.
“My client is a retired police officer,” Rand told The Independent. “He spent his life fighting crime, and now to be accused of a crime so heinous as trafficking his own wife is unfathomable. He is committed to fighting for justice for himself and for others that have suffered racial discrimination at the hands of American Airlines.”
An American Airlines spokesperson said in an email, “American strives to provide a positive experience to everyone who travels with us. We are reviewing the allegations of the complaint.”
Black cop is accused of trafficking his white wife while flying to their honeymoon
Exclusive: Anthony Williams “spent his life fighting crime, and now to be accused of a crime so heinous as trafficking his own wife is unfathomable,” attorney Jasmine Rand told The Independent.
www.independent.co.uk
The Mann Act was made because of Jack Johnson and others smashing all those snow bunnies back then. Not much has changed.
