Thread: Kicked Off Plane, Jailed for Wearing Pajama Pants; Passenger

Man Kicked Off Plane, Jailed for Wearing Pajama Pants; Passengers Evacuated

Mac Slavo
June 21st, 2011
SHTFplan.com
54 Comments

We’ve spent many hours travelling through airports the world over and have often noticed, especially on those early morning flights, individuals who choose to wear their pajama pants on the flights. Let’s face it, flying isn’t exactly the most comfortable experience one can engage in. Usually, and this is stereotypical of us, those pajama pants are being modeled by female college co-eds. Not once has this ever been an issue. Up until now, that is.



It turns out that if you’re a black male wearing pajama pants on your flight, however, you are violating airline dress code policy, subject to a citizen’s arrest, and in criminal violation of some non-existent law. Deshon Marman, a college football player with a full athletic ride at the University of New Mexico was removed from a U.S. Airways flight and subjected to the above for doing just that – wearing clothing deemed inappropriate by the pilot.

Marman first told ABC, he wanted to apologize to all of the passengers that had been disrupted from their travel plans because he never thought this incident surrounding his pajama bottoms would have escalated to this point. But he felt he was a paying passenger who didn’t present any cause to be removed from the plane. He told reporters that a flight attendant asked him to leave his seat and then the pilot asked for his boarding pass.

But Marman refused to de-plane and the situation escalated with Marman and the pilot which resulted in the pilot making a citizen’s arrest. Marman said, “I’m just like everybody else on this plane. I’m human, and the pilot said, ‘No, you’re not. You’re not like everybody else.’

We’re glad he gave his side of the story. Prior stories made it seem like he was wearing sagging jeans when they were baggy pajama pants. We’ve seen plenty of passengers walking around in pajama pants and much less on flights throughout the country. We’re not sure what the pilot meant when he said Marman is not like everybody else.

Source: The Root http://www.theroot.com/buzz/deshon-marm ... ts-arrest#

The pilot subsequently deplaned the aircraft to protect passengers from Mr. Marman and his pants.

Apparently, Mr. Marman refused to be handcuffed in the jetway after leaving the plane and an officer was reportedly injured in the scuffle. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/1 ... index.html Marman was charged with trespassing, battery and interfering with the duties of a police officer. No video of the events after he deplaned has been made available, but given the recent string of artificial and trumped up charges by police and private security guards around the country and the fact that Mr. Marman was fairly controlled in his encounter on the airplane, we won’t believe the charges are legitimiate until we see the tape.

Mr. Marman faces up to 4 years in prison for battery and one year and six months in county jail for the two other charges.

A video of the encounter on the plane has been made available. It depicts a frustrated Marman, yet a man who seems to be completely controlled in his argument and demeanor:

Video: Deshon Marman on US Airways flight 488, 6/15/11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOQI_FhK ... r_embedded

It was first reported that the pans he was wearing were sagging and baggy. We have since learned that they were actually pajama pants, according to Mr. Marman himself.

The Chief Deputy District Attorney, when questioned about the charges, replied:

“We’re not deciding how somebody wears their clothing is a crime. Because it’s not. What we’re deciding is whether or not there was an interaction that occurred (where) there was conduct by Mr. Marman that violated the laws in his dealing with the police and with the personnel there. That’s what we’re looking at. This has nothing to do with whether it’s inappropriate for somebody to wear their clothing in a certain way. That’s not of interest to us.â€

Man flies US Airways in women's underwear (Photo at link)

Six days before a college football player was arrested at San Francisco International Airport in a dispute that began when a US Airways employee asked him to pull up his sagging pants, a man who was wearing little but women's undergarments was allowed to fly the airline, a US Airways spokeswoman conceded Tuesday.

A photo of the scantily clad man was provided to The Chronicle by Jill Tarlow, a passenger on the June 9 flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Phoenix. Tarlow said other passengers had complained to airline workers before the plane boarded, but that employees had ignored those complaints.


Jill Tarlow

Acceptable airline attire.
US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder confirmed she'd received the photo before last week's incident in San Francisco and had spoken to Tarlow, but said employees had been correct not to ask the man to cover himself.

"We don't have a dress code policy," Wunder said. "Obviously, if their private parts are exposed, that's not appropriate. ... So if they're not exposing their private parts, they're allowed to fly."

So, does that mean Deshon Marman, the University of New Mexico player yanked from an Albuquerque-bound flight June 15 at SFO, was displaying his private parts when his pajama pants sagged to mid-thigh level?

Wunder declined to comment on the incident directly. Police have said only that Marman's boxer shorts were exposed, and his attorney said surveillance video would prove Marman's skin had not been visible.

Police arrested Marman, 20, who grew up in San Francisco, after he allegedly refused an US Airways employee's request to pull up his pants to keep his underwear from showing. Marman's later refusal to comply with the pilot's orders to get up from his seat led to his arrest on suspicion of trespassing, battery and resisting arrest, police said. The San Mateo County district attorney has not determined whether he will charge Marman.

Marman's attorney, Joe O'Sullivan, said his client had been stereotyped by US Airways as a thug, and that the airline was guilty of racial discrimination for asking Marman to adjust his clothes. Marman is African American.

"It just shows the hypocrisy involved," O'Sullivan said after he viewed the photo of the cross-dressing passenger. "They let a drag queen board a flight and welcomed him with open arms. Employees didn't ask him to cover up. He didn't have to talk to the pilot. They didn't try to remove him from the plane -- and many people would find his attire repugnant."

O'Sullivan added, "A white man is allowed to fly in underwear without question, but my client was asked to pull up his pajama pants because they hung below his waist."

Tarlow, 40, who was returning home to Phoenix after helping her mother move, said she had been shocked when she noticed the older man in blue underwear and black stockings standing in the Fort Lauderdale terminal. Tarlow said the man had obliged when she asked to take his photo.

"No one would believe me if I didn't take his picture," Tarlow said. "It was unbelievable. ... And he loved it. He posed for me."

Wunder reiterated the airline's stance that Marman had not been removed from the US Airways flight last week because of his clothing, but because he had failed to comply with an employee's request.

"The root of the matter is, if you don't comply with the captain's requests," Wunder said, "the captain has the right to handle the issue because it's one of safety."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cri ... z1Q2Qyt2Na