DETROIT — A lawyer for American Airlines said Friday it was the suspicious behavior of five men of Iraqi descent, not discrimination, that caused the pilot of a Chicago-bound flight to return to the gate in August 2007.
Attorney Michael McQuillen asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Detroit-area men, who claim their nationality caused Capt. John Plummer to ground Flight 590 before takeoff in San Diego.
There was "no evidence that Capt. Plummer had any bias against people of Arabic descent," McQuillen told U.S. District Judge Paul Borman.
The men were leaving San Diego after training U.S. Marines about Iraqi culture when flight attendants and passengers became concerned by behavior that included one of the men putting a blanket over his head and glaring at a crew member during safety instructions.
Another man said he was traveling alone and was not part of the group.
Plummer, who described the behavior as "odd," returned the plane to the gate, where police interviewed the men. Everyone, including the Iraqi natives, departed San Diego the next day on another flight.
Lawrence Garcia, lawyer for the five men, said his clients "wanted to be treated like everyone else on the plane, but they certainly were not."
"One took off his shoes. One went to the bathroom, and one put a blanket on his head. ... If a white or African-American person had done that on a plane, it would have aroused no suspicion," Garcia said.
But McQuillen repeatedly told the judge that the pilot's decision to abort the flight was not "arbitrary or capricious," a key legal standard to holding the airline liable.
He said Plummer did not return to the gate until after a third call to the cockpit by flight attendants.
Plummer had a "legitimate concern for safety," McQuillen said. "No one was arrested. No one was touched. ... I don't believe he made a mistake, but mistakes are even protected under the statute."
Borman did not issue a ruling Friday.
Hi! :) I remember from an undergrad sociology class (Class, Race, and Gender) a discussion about the erasure of race/ethnicity in news articles. The absence of race/ethnic assignments, students argued, infers that the people being talked about are white/Caucasian.
This story is a classic example. The subjects up for review are "five men of Iraqi descent" (White, 2009, para. 1), Capt. John Plummer (White, 2009, para. 2), and the "flight attendants" (White, 2009, para. 9). I'd like to know what exactly was told to Capt. Plummer to justify his behavior - because it had to be something more than what "Lawrence Garcia, lawyer for the five men" (White, 2009, para. 6) shared (White, 2009, para. 7).
However, after 9/11, were there not discussions about increasing security personnel on airlines? If so, why wasn't an agent on this flight? I don't know if that would've done much for the situation, but I'd be more likely to trust the perceptions of people trained to identify suspicious behaviors than those who may harbor Anti-Arab sentiments.
:)
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