BURBANK : Airport Denies Claim of Bias by Its Police

A Burbank Airport spokeswoman on Thursday denied that airport police officers acted out of prejudice last year when they threw a mentally disabled man out of an airport terminal.

“The centerpiece of our response revolves around the obligation of our law enforcement officers to weigh and balance the needs of the public to use the airport facility given the behavior they were seeing,” airport spokeswoman Elly Mixsell said.

“A couple of concerned passengers alerted our law enforcement officers that there was erratic behavior taking place in the restroom. We don’t believe that our actions were in any way discriminatory.”

Michael Shannon, who has had cerebral palsy since birth, and his father, Robert Shannon, filed a lawsuit against the airport Feb. 17, alleging that airport police officers verbally and physically harassed Shannon because of his disability.

Michael Shannon’s brain was damaged during birth and cerebral palsy resulted, the lawsuit says. He also has a mild speech impediment which, his father says, gets worse when he is flustered.

The suit says that on Feb. 25, 1993, Michael Shannon was in a men’s restroom at the airport, looking for a lost ticket, when a police officer entered the room. In response to Shannon’s explanation of what he was doing, the lawsuit contends, the officer called him a liar and threatened to arrest him.

The lawsuit also alleges that other officers joined the first officer in dragging Shannon out of the terminal and dumping him on the sidewalk in front of the terminal.