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CNN Saturday Morning News

Secret Service Agent Charges American Airlines With Discrimination

Aired January 05, 2002 - 09:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: One of President Bush's Secret Service agents is locked in a dispute with American Airlines. The agent says the airline bumped him off a flight because he's an Arab- American. The airline has a very different view.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a story of many contradictions, two accounts from parties apparently without a vested interest. Mark Pueschel claims he was sitting in the same row on the American Airlines flight as the Secret Service agent, an Arab- American. He tells CNN he believes the agent was a victim of racial discrimination.

MARK PUESCHEL, AGENT'S SEAT MATE: I didn't see any of the -- his behaviors anything confrontational, nor was I privy to see his paperwork. But it did strike me as being somewhat racially motivated.

MESERVE: And Molly Reeve, who claims she spoke with the agent several times in the terminal, says, quote, "I never witnessed any yelling or hostile behavior, as the pilot has alleged." She did not, however, see the agent talking with the pilot.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the agent, Walied Shater, put forward his rendition of events.

JOHN RELMAN, ATTORNEY FOR SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Pure and simple, this is a case of discrimination. He was treated in a demeaning manner, as you've heard; a humiliating manner, a rude manner.

MESERVE: The attorneys say during a delay of more than an hour, three different law enforcement officers verified the agent's identity, but the captain would not be satisfied and would not call the Secret Service directly.

The captain, in his account, says he was suspicious because paperwork filled out by the agent to carry his weapon on board was "unreadable" and "missing items." But the agent's lawyers say the problem arose when the agent's first flight was canceled, and he was sent to a different gate. CHRISTY LOPEZ, ATTORNEY FOR SECRET SERVICE AGENT: The American Airlines agent at that gate had no blank forms that he needed to fill out, so the American Airlines agent decided to use one of the forms that he already had, and simply crossed out the airport, flight, and seat numbers and wrote in the new flight and seat numbers.

MESERVE: The pilot, in his account, described the agent as "very hostile" and "abusive." Lawyers for the agent say it was the pilot who was rude and unprofessional. And they asked if pilots should have unfettered authority to remove passengers.

RELMAN: The question is, if there is no legitimate security risk being posed, does a pilot of American airline, any American airline, have the right to keep someone off a plane just because he doesn't like the way they look?

MESERVE: On its Web site, American Airlines says these are "frivolous claims of racial profiling." It says its security "guidelines are applied equally among all passengers. And the company vigorously resents any suggestion of racial discrimination."

(on camera): The pilot has now filed a complaint with the Secret Service alleging that the agent was confrontational, hostile, and argumentative, and he asks that this behavior be addressed before, he says, the agent interferes with another flight crew and compromises security.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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