# Man falsely imprisoned 17 days because American Airlines falsely accuses him of shoplifting **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807 "2022-06-07T13:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/101 "2022-06-09T19:42:40Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Or a duty-free shop, which can only sell to travelers with an international ticket. Yes, some reports have stated that the theft was from a duty-free shop. > [@Acsenray](#): > > …except why didn’t American turn over the full manifest? Complete speculation, but one way this could happen is if the manifest request was overly specific, or the AA representative screwed up in fulfilling the request. For example, the detective means to ask AA for a list of all passengers on flight X who are male and 25-45 years old, but instead the request comes through as 45 years old with no range. Or the AA rep forgets to hit the “next record” button on his screen. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/102 "2022-06-09T19:53:57Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Complete speculation, but one way this could happen is if the manifest request was overly specific, or the AA representative screwed up in fulfilling the request. > > For example, the detective means to ask AA for a list of all passengers on flight X who are male and 25-45 years old, but instead the request comes through as 45 years old with no range. Or the AA rep forgets to hit the “next record” button on his screen. In either case, the detective would (if he had more than 2 brain cells and/or gave a shit) say, “This can’t be right!” and make a phone call. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/103 "2022-06-09T20:17:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Normally I’d agree. But then they wouldn’t have bothered going after this guy a year later. If he had a warrant for a year, they stumbled across the guy, checked his name and found there was a warrant for him, so they arrested him. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/104 "2022-06-09T20:24:02Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > In either case, the detective would (if he had more than 2 brain cells and/or gave a shit) say, “This can’t be right!” and make a phone call. To play the devil’s advocate, the detective might have asked for something like “Send me a list of all of the male passengers on that flight who were over fifty years old and had blonde hair.” The airline might have sent a list with just one name even though there were actually five passengers who fit the description. But the detective would not have been unreasonable in assuming that he had a complete list and only one person on the flight fit the description. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/105 "2022-06-09T20:41:36Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Normally I’d agree. But then they wouldn’t have bothered going after this guy a year later. If it’s a big enough deal for that, then surely it’s a big enough deal to try and get the airline to actually give them the information they needed to find the right person. > > At the very least, I would expect it was a big item, or that the guy did something else besides shoplift. But I also don’t have enough faith anymore to say there must be more to the story The issuing of warrants can become so routine that no one really thinks about how serious the crime is. And once a warrant is issued, it takes on a life of its own. I had a colleague once who had a hearing scheduled for a minor custody matter—he and his ex wife had shared custody of their daughter. For whatever reason, the hearing was rescheduled, but the message didn’t get to the right desk and a failure to appear in court warrant was issued as a matter of course. No one ever informed him that there was writ of capias out for his arrest in another county. Just like in this story, there was some minor incident, and the cops looked up his name and tossed him in the clink. Luckily, he was a newspaper reporter who knew some important lawyers and officials in the county, but he still had to spend a night in jail. Lucky for him, nothing worse happened—which definitely could have been the case for a black man arrested on a warrant for failure to appear in court in a rural area. Our legal institutions and structures are eminently fucked up in many ways. The guy’s lawyer in this case was absolutely correct—this kind of thing could happen to anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/106 "2022-06-10T13:46:28Z")
It sounds a lot like what was happening over at Hertz on a wholesale basis. Apparently Hertz was very quick to report cars stolen when they were returned late. In some cases the cars were returned in time and not logged in due to paperwork errors. But Hertz never contacted law enforcement to retract the complaints when the cars were returned or the paperwork errors discovered, resulting in hundreds of false arrests. > **[Former customers sue Hertz over claims of false arrests](https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/former-customers-sue-hertz-over-claims-of-false-arrests-030822.html)** > > Two hundred thirty former Hertz customers have signed onto a lawsuit against the rental car giant, claiming they were unlawfully arrested because Hertz acc ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/107 "2022-06-10T20:51:23Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Apparently Hertz was very quick to report cars stolen when they were returned late. In some cases the cars were returned in time and not logged in due to paperwork errors. Not hard to imagine. I rented/returned a Hertz car this past February. The return process has you walking away from the vehicle without any official inspection or receipt confirming that you returned the car: just leave the key in the ignition and head for the shuttle bus. I asked a nearby Hertz employee if I was just supposed to leave empty-handed, and they confirmed yes. Despite having returned the car on time, when the final invoice arrived in my email a few days later, they showed that I had returned the car a day late and charged me accordingly. I had to call them back and make the case that I had returned it on time. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Hertz has been getting people arrested because they think cars aren’t being returned at all. I don’t plan to rent from them again unless I hear that their return process has improved. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/108 "2022-06-10T21:43:25Z")
I rented a Hertz rent a car and literally the moment I handed the keys to the employee to take back he got in and immediately crashed the car into a rental car that was in front of him (he was supposed to reverse to get out and he didn’t) Had to immediately find two other Hertz employee witnesses to record them saying that the original employee was the one who crashed the car not me, so Hertz didn’t immediately try to claim I crashed the car when I returned it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/109 "2022-06-29T16:38:07Z")
[quote=“Max\_S, post:59, topic:965807”] The constitutional right to a speedy trial may only be established by an _ad hoc_ balancing test considering factors such as the length of and reason for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of his right, and prejudice to the defendant. _Barker v. Wingo_, 407 U.S. 514 (1972). We’re generally talking many months, not mere days. The cited case involved a person held in detention whose trial was delayed for five _years_ while prosecutors waited for the accomplice’s conviction, and this did not violate the individual’s right to a speedy trial.[/quote] Barker was not in detention for five years. He was jailed for 10 months before being released on bail. Slight nitpick. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807/110 "2022-06-29T18:18:17Z")
My mistake. But it is routine that individuals wait months in pretrial detention when they can’t make bail (or if no bail is set). _The New York Times_ [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/nyregion/mayor-de-blasios-plan-to-shrink-rikers-population-tackle-court-delays.html) in 2015, > As of late March [2015], over 400 people had been locked up for more than two years without being convicted of a crime, according to city data that is to be released publicly for the first time. And there are currently a half-dozen people at Rikers who have been waiting on pending cases for more than six years. ~Max [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-falsely-imprisoned-17-days-because-american-airlines-falsely-accuses-him-of-shoplifting/965807.md?page=5)