Saggy-Pants Saga Headed for Lawsuit

The saggy-pants saga is headed to the courtroom after all. But this time, Deshon Marman is on the offensive.

The University of New Mexico football player plans to sue US Airways for removing him from a flight about to depart SFO on June 15 because his pants were too low, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

Marman, 20, a San Francisco native, was in town for the funeral of his cousin and former high school teammate David Henderson, when he was forcibly removed by the airplane's crew and ultimately arrested for declining entreaties to pull up his pants. He was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and trespassing, according to the newspaper.

The incident drew outrage at the time -- and the anger was only magnified when it was revealed that US Airways had allowed a man to board a flight and travel on a plane without incident while clad in purple lingerie. That man is white.

The San Mateo County District Attorney declined to press charges, and US Airways has expressed regret, but  has done little else to ameliorate the incident, according to Joe O'Sullivan, Marman's attorney. Not only has US Airways not apologized to Marman, it has not offered to reimburse him for the $500 flight back to New Mexico he missed that day while in handcuffs, O'Sullivan told the newspaper.

US Airways has said that had Marman acted differently, he would not have been asked to leave the plane and then forcibly removed. The plane's captain argued with a seated Marman for 10 minutes before ejecting him from the flight.

The airline's recalcitrance makes Donna Doyle's blood boil. Doyle, Marman's mother, says the airline offered her a free flight to see her son, but still has not apologized. She declined the flight and will work instead to sue the pants off of US Airways.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us