Comedian and television host Eric Andre has accused Atlanta law enforcement officers of racially profiling him at the airport. The incident in question took place earlier this week as Andre neared the Delta terminal at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. During his travels, he was stopped and searched by members of law enforcement. Andre stated that he was stopped in an area in which he was the only Black traveler. After this harrowing experience, the comedian documented it via Twitter.
“I was just racially profiled by two plainclothes Atlanta PD police in Delta terminal T3 at the Atlanta airport. They stopped me on the way down the bridge to the plane for a 'random' search and asked they could search me for drugs. I told them no. Be careful," he tweeted.
"They let me go. I’m on the plane in the air. I’m fine now, but I want this reported. Please, any Atlanta lawyer reach out to me. At that moment, I was the only POC on line. Keisha Bottoms, I know this isn’t the PD you want representing in your airports."
As his tweets gained more attention, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms replied and said that she would look into the matter. Representatives from the Atlanta Police Department also chimed into let Andre know that he was not stopped by a member of their police force. Instead, the Atlanta Police Department suggested that he may have been stopped by members of a different agency. Then, the Drug Enforcement Agency jumped into say that they were not involved either. Ending the string of statements from law enforcement agencies, Clayton County police offered a response to Andre's claims.
“Mr. Andre chose to speak with investigators during the initial encounter,” Clayton County police told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“During the encounter, Mr. Andre voluntarily provided the investigators information as to his travel plans. Mr. Andre also voluntarily consented to a search of his luggage but the investigators chose not to do so. Investigators identified that there was no reason to continue a conversation and therefore terminated the encounter.”
Andre refuted these claims in a series of tweets posted to his count.
"I did not volunteer to a search and I did not volunteer to talk. You guys flashed your badge and detained me with no probable cause except for racism. This is Jim Crow racism," he told Clayton County police.
Delta has not issued a comment regarding the matter and Clayton County police have not responded to Andre's most recent remarks.
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