Two Black Comedians Sue Police Over Search at Atlanta Airport: “We Do What We Feel Like” [VIDEO]
Two Black Comedians Sue Police Over Search at Atlanta Airport: “We Do What We Feel Like” [VIDEO]
Two prominent Black American comedians, Mike Epps and James Andrew Miller, filed a lawsuit against the Atlanta Police Department, arguing that the airport police conducted a racially motivated search of their luggage, which they believe violated their Fourth Amendment rights. This is in response to two separate incidents at the Atlanta Airport that were captured by video camera.
Epps shared a video he took on one of his flights on January 14th that shows two men being escorted out of the gate following a “routine security search” of his luggage. In his lawsuit, Epps says, “it is not at all uncommon for passengers on flights to be subject to such searches, which will be done in the interest of airport security.”
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on January 14th, a man who Epps identifies as “Officer” Smith was told his luggage was “suspicious,” and when he arrived at the airport for a second round of security, Smith instructed the man to “take off his shoes and show me your feet.” The man does as Smith suggests, and the officer then says he wants to take off his shoes and socks.
“There he is like, ‘I don’t care. I want to see ’em.’ He takes off his socks, and I don’t even know, I’m thinking, he’s going to try to rip up my feet,” Epps says in the video.
Smith then takes Epps’ shoes and socks, tells him he does not have to remove his shoes, and then tells the man to remove his shirt, which he does. The officer said in the video, “I am just going to pat you down,” and then asks Epps to bend over, at which point he discovers the presence of marijuana.
Epps posted a second video on YouTube where he captures what he terms a “wholly improper search of