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Mary MacCarthy of Los Angeles informed CNN she and her 10-year-old daughter, Moira, had been flying to Denver on October 22 after receiving information Ms MacCarthy’s brother had abruptly died.
“I requested flight attendants if we might be seated collectively however they informed us we might every must take a center seat,” Ms MacCarthy mentioned.
“So with their permission I requested different passengers if they might kindly transfer so we might be collectively, particularly as my daughter was grieving, they usually did. Individuals are good.”
“I obtained fairly a shock; having misplaced my brother the night time earlier than, I assumed that another person in my household had died and that police had been despatched to ship the information,” Ms MacCarthy wrote in an e mail to Southwest Airways’ media workforce, which was included within the police report.
“As for my daughter, she was terribly frightened: she was already experiencing the trauma of her uncle’s dying, and she or he is afraid of police attributable to fixed headlines about how police deal with Black individuals (she is Black). She started to sob and was inconsolable,” her e mail mentioned.
The officers assured her nothing was mistaken however mentioned they needed to query her and her daughter, Ms MacCarthy mentioned.
“They mentioned they had been right here as a result of my daughter and I had been reported for suspicious conduct, performing suspiciously earlier than boarding and whereas boarding,” she mentioned.
“I took out my telephone and instantly began recording. I informed (the officer) who we had been and that my daughter was crying as a result of she had misplaced a member of the family,” Ms MacCarthy mentioned.
In keeping with a report from the Denver police, “Each Mom and youngster had been cleared.”
The report additionally famous officers had been responding to a “doable Human Trafficking reported by South West flight attendant” – however Ms MacCarthy says she solely came upon two weeks later that she was suspected of human trafficking.
“I obtained a name from Denver Police human trafficking unit letting me know they had been following up on the incident,” she informed CNN.
CNN reached out to the Denver Police Division on Sunday afternoon about Ms MacCarthy’s declare however has not acquired a response.
Ms MacCarthy accuses Southwest Airways of racial profiling. She says she’s retained an lawyer and needs the airline to be held “totally accountable.”
“I gave the airline loads of time to contact me and apologise – over two weeks later, I’ve but to obtain something greater than two temporary automated responses. The time for an apology is gone,” Ms MacCarthy mentioned.
In her e mail to Southwest’s media workforce, Ms MacCarthy mentioned she needed a written apology from the airline, speedy reimbursement of the complete value of their tickets, and “further compensation to account for the trauma imposed on an harmless household, and particularly on a grieving ten year-old Black woman.”
Southwest Airways mentioned it’s “disheartened” by Ms MacCarthy’s account of the occasions and plans to succeed in out to her.
“We’re conducting a overview of the scenario internally, and we will likely be reaching out to the Buyer to deal with her issues and provide our apologies for her expertise touring with us. Our Workers endure sturdy coaching on Human Trafficking. Above all, Southwest Airways prides itself on offering a welcoming and inclusive surroundings for the hundreds of thousands of Clients who journey with us every year,” Southwest Airways spokesperson Dan Landson mentioned in an announcement to CNN on Sunday.
“Had this been a White youngster, there wouldn’t have been a raised eyebrow,” Ms MacCarthy’s lawyer David Lane informed CNN.
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