What began as a petty theft ended up exposing a bigger problem at the airport: United Express agents refusing to help police identify a suspect unless officers first obtained a warrant.
United Express Agents Refuse To Identify Exit-Row Clip Thief Without A Warrant
A United Express E175 aircraft arrived in Idaho Falls (IDA) from Denver (DEN). A post-flight check revealed that the exit-row escape-rope carabiner was missing, which made the jet unairworthy for its next flight. Police were called and a flight attendant identified the passenger suspected of stealing the part (just his name). Officers sought help at the gate to further identify the passenger seen handling the exit-row hardware. But agents declined to assist “without a warrant.” Police later located him curbside, recovered the clip from his pocket, and a confrontation followed that ended with pepper spray and an arrest.
It Started With Alcohol…
- During the short IDA-DEN light, witness accounts indicated a passenger had moved to the exit row, asked for alcohol, and manipulated the escape-rope assembly during the flight.
- After arrival, crew discovered the exit-row carabiner was missing, grounding the aircraft until the part could be accounted for and the system inspected.
- Police boarded the aircraft, where a flight attendant identified the passenger by name and seat.
- At the gate, United Express agents refused to confirm the suspect’s identity or provide info of the man he was traveling with “without a warrant,” despite the airline being the apparent victim of a theft affecting airworthiness and the airline calling the police in the first place!
- Police found the man and confronted him, finding the missing clip in his pocket
- The encounter escalated, pepper spray was deployed, and the passenger was arrested.
- The man faces potential jail time and both state and federal charges.
Here is the police bodycam video:
The incident happened on September 28th, 2024, but police bodycam footage was just released last weekend.
Was A Warrant Really Required?
The interesting part of this story is that the United gate agent declined to help the police officer find the culprit (if you watched the video above, you’ll see the policeman is visibly miffed). So was a warrant required?
Short answer: likely not. A warrant is generally reserved for searches where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy…the gate agent asking for a warrant was like calling the cops when you home was broken into and then asking the cops for a warrant when they show up to investigate. Airline reservation and manifest records are business records. This data can be shared voluntarily with law enforcement, especially when the company itself is the victim of a crime that occurred on its aircraft or on its premises.
Airlines often adopt internal policies that require a subpoena or warrant before releasing documents or bulk data, but that reflects policy choice, not a universal legal requirement. Here, the agent could have take a victim-witness role and cooperated in real time, while still asking investigators to follow up with United’s policy if more info was needed.
Could officers have pursued a subpoena or court order via telephone? Yes, and agencies do that routinely. But not in cases like this: demanding a warrant was stupid.
CONCLUSION
The stolen clip grounded a United jet and triggered a police response. The aviation safety piece is obvious. The troubling part is what happened at the counter. United Express agents turned officers away with a blanket warrant demand when a measured, lawful path to immediate cooperation existed. I find the agent’s actions indefensible. United should align frontline training with both safety imperatives and lawful cooperation so that the next time a crime threatens airworthiness, employees help solve the problem rather than slow it down.
Hat Tip: @N830MH/Flyertalk
Why would the passenger want to take the clip in the first place?
Seems he was just a drunk loser.
@Malik … Same reason why people with jobs and income , shoplift and steal from employers .
Only just pepper-spray ? New York or New Jersey P.D. would be a bit more firm .
My thought is that the station manager is the larger problem , not the “agent” . All station managers ought to be retired P.D.
It is internal policy at many airlines to be pressented a warrant before giving sensitive passenger info to law enforcment. Albeit the agent was proably just sticking by the book with this policy (many newer agents are like this espailly) Although many times there are other ways to access the info like through Secure FLight dtata, etc.
A warrant to identify a thief in the midst of a crime being committed? I don’t think so.
The gate agent probably misunderstood the policy (or United did a bad job of clearly explaining their policy) and erred on the side of compliance with her employers rules. From her perspective she doesn’t lose anything if she’s unnecessarily compliant but if she was wrong she risks her job. I get it.
When the ALLEGED crime was being investigated, there was an equally likely probably that he didn’t do it. While you’re right that a warrant wasn’t required, nor is it required that we comply with inquiries from the police. Given everything going on around the police in this country targeting people of color, I don’t blame the GA for being resistant to helping the police.
Any idea who the 3rd party was? Skywest or UGE? My guess is Skywest given it’s IDA
The role of the gate agent/agents is curious. One would think Idaho Falls, while not a high crime area, surely has enough that they are not naïve. The only other thought was the agent had issue with the flight attendant. Which would give new meaning to petty crime.
agent a self-loathing white tilting at windmills and fighting on the right side of history by not cooperating with police to enforce the law against blacks
The thief does not seem to be black (though perhaps they’re Black nonetheless).
But yes, when people see law enforcement as evil, crime can prosper.
E175s don’t have overwing exits, or any seats that are designated as exit rows. The video shows what looks to be a CRJ interior.
Re: “Seems he was just a drunk loser.”, just like Douchebag Dave Edwards. In fact I heard it actually WAS Douchebag Dave Edwards because he lost his beloved carabiner-clip during the January 6th United States Capitol attack and he can’t afford to buy one. Although in keeping with all the conspiracy theories they all love so much, it could have been Dirtbag Derek or Sch*tt Hsuan, hard to tell, all those MAGAmoron racist bigoted stupid cretins look (and sound) so much alike.
– It doesn’t surprise me that United doesn’t want third-party (sometimes-outsourced, subsidiary) gate agents making the decisions about when to disclose passenger information. Not saying there shouldn’t be another method, station manager, etc.
– To that end, what struck me is that the police officer seemingly didn’t have a way to escalate his request — it’s as if they had no relationship with the airline, which seems like a big oversight for a police presence stationed at the airport! (I wonder, for example, if United doesn’t have a centralized means for handling time sensitive law enforcement requests)
Untied strike again.
Proving yet again that left wing ideology is the surest sign of mental illness.
“We have meet the enemy, and he is us” Crazy that they didnt get corporate involved.
Honestly I get the behavior of the agent – they have nothing to lose by sticking to internal policy that likely requires a warrant to give out passenger PII, regardless of United (I’m guessing SkyWest or Mesa in this case) being the actual victim.
They don’t want to deal with any potential negative repercussions as a result of incorrectly/unnecessarily giving out PII.
I’m actually surprised that the lifeline (to be used in a ditching in the event of a water evacuation) is considered such an essential piece of safety equipment on a non-EOW aircraft that it would have to be grounded until it was replaced.
That policeman has the patient of a saint. I think the agent just didn’t know what the law is or hadn’t been trained on SOP for situations like that. Does anyone find it interesting he got caught in front of his boss?
Some people just need to be slapped.
This is fake news The Embraer 175; doesn’t have an exit row.
So dear, what plane is it?
That bodycam footage was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in a while. From the officer expressing the lack of help to the idiot who didn’t know when to sit down and shut up.