A pilot who was arrested for “indecent exposure” for walking around his hotel room naked is now suing the hotel the hotel where the incident took place.
The incident occurred in September 2018. United pilot Andrew Collins was at the Westin Denver Airport. Apparently, he was about to step into the shower but received a phone call and took it. While on the call, he walked around his hotel room naked while on the phone. A couple TSA agents noticed him from the hotel courtyard below and phoned the police, stating that he was waving to them and “touching himself”.
Police were called, stormed his room with guns drawn, and escorted him out in handcuffs. He was charged with indecent exposure.
How did this happen in the first place? Westin apparently designed the windows, at least in some rooms or at some times of the day, so that guests could not see out of them, but onlookers outside could look in!
Although the criminal charge against Collins was dismissed in March, he had already served a six-month suspension at United. Now with a tarnished reputation and the butt of many jokes, he sued the City of Denver and was awarded $300,000.
Now he’s suing the Westin. His attorney, Craig Silverman, stated that the Westin hotel “ha[s] not yet acknowledged its misconduct in this matter.” Silverman wants the Westin to warn guests that others may see them from outside and added:
“Captain Collins wants to make sure no future hotel patrons are subjected to the kind of gross abuse he suffered. A hotel room is the equivalent of a person’s home, and warrantless entries are presumptively unconstitutional. Customers’ constitutional rights must be protected.”
That’s a rehash of the police conduct question, which has already been settled. We’re not talking about constitutional rights anymore, but about the hotel’s culpability in installing one-way windows that compromise guest privacy.
CONCULSION
In my view, Collins is justified in suing the hotel. Furthermore, it appears the hotel has not even warned guests of this issue, which seems a smart way to set the hotel up for further liability.
> Read More: United Pilot Falsely Accused Of Indecent Exposure Receives Settlement
> Read More: In Defense Of The “Naked” United Airlines Pilot
(H/T: View from the Wing // image: Marriott)
It should be a class action lawsuit where the lawyers earn $10 million, the pilot as lead plaintiff wins $2 and all other members of the public who register get a check of 2 cents.
Speaking of that, I hear his lawyer is Denver’s best known ambulance chaser.
Good for him. No such thing as a friendly warning (maybe a phone call or male hotel employee could have advised him of something as he was unaware of being visible). But instead they (Westin) just take the “report” of TSA employees and decide to act as immediate judge and jury. Just because people wear a uniform doesn’t mean they should arbitrarily shoot first and ask questions later.
“and the butt of many jokes”
I see what you did there.
Save our government money and get rid of the TSA they let lax security and extreme variations from one airport to another go , but stick their nose in the business of 1 the hotel guest and 2 Westin. Why were they there anyway? This all seems like a spiteful act. They were obviously turned on or would not hung out so long watching him. I hope with the money the government is handing out to the airlines that they finally tell them they are responsible for their own security effective Jan. 2021
Matthew, please try proofreading (again). Your first sentence already has an error.
I gave up pointing out his mistakes anymore, that’s how many there are. So that’s my conculsion.
I thought the jokes on american culture and logic ended with protest against quarantine for a haircut in the name of freedom. I was wrong. Severely wrong….
James, I just spoke to America and it doesn’t care what you think. It does agree though that you’re wrong……..severely wrong.
Regarding the story, I am shocked to see airline mall cops and the regular cops wildly escalate a situation. That NEVER happens.
The real villains of this story are the TSA and local police, who escalated the situation (instead of picking up the phone with a stern admonishment) so as to have an opportunity to play what, at best, was a childish game of cops and robbers, and at worst was a violent power trip. See also Waco (good docudrama on Netflix at the moment about this), Ruby Ridge, MOVE/W. Philly, etc., etc., etc. This is the American Way.
Unfortunately, American citizens can’t sue employees of their own government, who are almost entirely immune from liability for abuses, so Westin is the only one on the pointy end of the lawsuit. That does seem backwards, but the only way to get one’s day in court for this sort of thing in the USA.