Scantily Clad Man Flew US Airways Before SFO Saggy Pants Arrest
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- Days before a San Francisco man was arrested on a US Airways flight over his saggy pants, the same airline allowed a man showing much more skin to fly.
Jill Tarlow, who was on the June 9th flight from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix, told CBS 5 the man wore a woman's bathing suit, thigh high stockings and high heels.
"I just kept thinking to myself. What if I was wearing that outfit?" Tarlow said. "Would US Airways not ask me to cover up? If a woman was in a stripper outfit they'd allow her to just board?"
According to Tarlow, many passengers complained about the man's attire to the gate staff. She telephoned US Airways after the plane landed in Phoenix.
Tarlow said an airline spokesperson told her "…As long as he's not harassing anyone or exposing himself, then we're fine with it."
Six days later, Deshon Marman of San Francisco was removed from another US Airways flight after he allegedly refused to pull up his sagging pants.
Upon hearing the news of Marman's arrest, Tarlow then turned over the photos of the scantily clad man to Marman's attorney Joe O'Sullivan.
"I think the airline maybe has a market strategy toward drag queens and against young African Americans," O'Sullivan told CBS 5.
O'Sullivan is adamant that since the airline has no explicit dress code and allowed the scantily clad passenger to board suggest it's not about clothing, but race.
"It was racial because he is black. And he had dreadlocks and they jammed him," O'Sullivan said. "Why would they have stopped him? No passenger complained about him. No police report says he showed he showed any flesh. YouTube and everything else is demonstrable. He was reverent, respectful. I almost felt it was obnoxious he said 'Sir' so many times."
A US Airways spokesperson told CBS 5 by phone Tuesday, as long as someone is not showing parts of their anatomy, they are permitted to fly.
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