Michael Lowe: Arizona man sues American Airlines over ID blunder that sent him to jail for 17 days
An Arizona man named Michael Lowe's life changed after he had to spend 17 days in a New Mexico jail because American Airlines apparently misidentified and accused him of shoplifting when police investigated a theft at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in May 2020. In response to this incident, Lowe filed a lawsuit on Monday, June 6, against the airline.
Although Lowe, a Grand Canyon tour guide, was later declared as clean from charges, the lawsuit said his incarceration has shaken his identity to the core and that he suffers from anxiety and depression because of the experience. For more than two weeks, Lowe was held in Quay County Jail at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in “grossly unsanitary conditions,” according to the lawsuit against the airline. Lowe said he didn’t even find out what he was charged with until after his release.
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What happened on May 12, 2020?
Lowe was on American Flight 2248 to Reno -- the same flight as a man who was captured on surveillance burglarizing a duty-free kiosk near Gate D25. The airline reported the incident to DFW Airport Police, and it was instructed to send over the passenger manifest.
"American Airlines returned the search warrant the same day with one name and one name only and that being Michael Lowe as the suspect, says Lowe's attorney, Scott Palmer as stated by news radio 1080KLRD.
Police then issued two arrest warrants for Lowe, in accordance with court docket data. Lowe was arrested on the outstanding warrant while visiting friends in New Mexico in July of 2021 -- more than a year later. He was forced to sleep on the concrete floor that smelled of urine and feces in a small, overcrowded jail in Tucumcari, for 17 days, costing him thousands of dollars in the lost tourism business. He was only in a position to clear his title after convincing a detective at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to examine his image at the time to the surveillance footage of the suspect.
Although he protested that they had the wrong person and that he was innocent and that this has got to be a mistake, it all fell on deaf ears." After Tarrant County failed to pick him up, Lowe was released from Quay County, New Mexico, jail 17 days later.
