A white mother who was arrested by police at the airport and accused of human trafficking her mixed-race daughter has sued Southwest Airlines for “blatant racism”.
Mary MacCarthy and her biological daughter Moira, then 10, flew away for a funeral on October 22, 2021, after the sudden death of her brother.
She was confronted by a Southwest worker at Denver International Airport who suspected the child was being trafficked.
The mother and daughter were met on the bridge by two police officers and questioned before eventually being released.
But MacCarthy, who is a single mother, works in tech and lives in Los Angeles, was shaken by the charge and filed a lawsuit Thursday in Colorado against Southwest.
A white mother who was arrested by police at the airport and charged with human trafficking, her mixed-race daughter sued Southwest Airlines for ‘blatant racism’
Mary MacCarthy and her biological daughter Moira, 10 at the time, flew to a funeral on October 22, 2021, after the sudden death of her brother
MacCarthy, who is a single mother, works in tech and lives in Los Angeles, was shaken by the charge and filed a lawsuit Thursday in Colorado against Southwest
MacCarthy sobbed throughout the confrontation with officers and explained to police that Moira was his daughter and showed identification. At the time, she said she was shaken by the accusation.
She alleged in the lawsuit that the child trafficking allegations came “for no other reason than the different color of her daughter’s skin compared to her own.”
The family said attendants did not ask them about their relationship during the flight.
The incident caused “extreme emotional distress”, according to the lawsuit and the family seeks economic damages, compensatory damages, as well as punitive and exemplary damages.
However, the police officers were not named in the lawsuit as they were polite and professional.
MacCarthy accused Southwest Airlines of interfering in their race-based contract, resulting in a civil rights violation.
“To this day, when Moira and I are out in public — and especially in airports or on planes — I am hyper aware that we could be judged and reported for any interaction we have with each other,” a- she declared. Newsweek.
“It’s a strange feeling to be on high alert about your most basic behaviors with your child, and it’s exhausting. As for Moira (who is now 12 years old), she remains silent and does not want to talk about what happened.
Their lawyer, David Lane, said the lawsuit was brought to bring accountability and get the company to reconsider its formation and policies.
“By using racial profiling to trick Denver police into arresting innocent travelers, Southwest Airlines has attempted to seriously address the criminal activity of sex trafficking using a simple, formulaic formula,” he said. .
“Just as police are not constitutionally authorized to stop and search young men of color based on their race, neither are American businesses authorized to use such profiling to use law enforcement. order to arrest and interrogate racially diverse families simply based on their divergent races, that’s what Southwest did.
MacCarthy filmed the incident at the time and the clip shows a Southwest staff member and two airport cops explaining why MacCarthy and her biological daughter were discarded.
According to the police report, the attendant told police she was suspicious because the mother-daughter duo were the last to board the plane – and because MacCarthy asked other passengers to move the seats so she can sit next to her daughter.
The attendant also told officers that the couple did not speak to each other once during the entire flight, according to the report.
“It’s okay honey,” the concerned mother can be heard saying in the three-minute video as her daughter sobbed in fear repeatedly after being confronted by the two armed officers and the South West representative.
The worried mum could also be heard saying, “I have a daughter, who unfortunately has already been traumatized by the police in her life.”
During the encounter, MacCarthy was told by officers that another Southwest Airlines employee had reported “suspicious behavior” to the single mother – with a police report filed after the incident saying the airline and the police suspected the single mother of “treating” the child. .
Driven mad by such an insinuation, MacCarthy criticized both the airline and the Denver Police Department, saying the anonymous staff member’s suspicions were a “racist assumption about a mixed-race family.”
According to the police report, the attendant told police she was suspicious because the mother-daughter duo were the last to board the plane – and because MacCarthy asked other passengers to move the seats so she can sit next to her daughter.
The attendant also told officers the couple did not speak to each other once during the entire flight, the report said.
According to the police report and MacCarthy’s own account, officers sought to interview the two after the Southwest Airlines employee deemed the pair suspicious and reported MacCarthy as a potential human trafficker to his supervisors.
The police report says MacCarthy then explained to officers that the couple were grieving and traveling to see family, and that ten-year-old Moira, who cried throughout the encounter, was indeed his daughter.
At the time, Southwest said in a statement: ‘We were heartbroken to learn of this mother’s story while traveling with her daughter.
“We were heartbroken to learn of this mother’s story while traveling with her daughter.
“We are conducting an internal review of the situation and will contact the customer to address her concerns and apologize for her travel experience with us.”
He added that his employees receive “solid training” on human trafficking.
MacCarthy said: ‘In our interactions with Southwest Airlines since the incident and with the information revealed in the body camera footage, I have felt attacked as a mother and frankly as a human being.
“Customers need to know the true nature of the company they are dealing with.”
Southwest Airlines said it had no comment on the ongoing litigation.
