Black Father Accused Of Kidnapping While Traveling With His Biracial Children

A Georgia father claims he was accused of kidnapping while traveling with his two biracial children on American Airlines. The troubling incident unfolded at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

David Ryan Harris says the encounter took place on a six-hour flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles. During the flight, a flight attendant attempted to engage with his children, one of which is 7 years old, and found their unresponsiveness alarming.

“A flight attendant had called ahead with some sort of concern that perhaps my mixed children weren’t my children because they were unresponsive during an interaction with her,” Harris explained in a video uploaded to his Instagram.

The musician said that his children were not obligated to engage with anyone, especially on a 7:17 a.m. flight.

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Harris says he was stopped upon arrival at LAX by four police officers who questioned the children about their safety before deciding their father posed no threat and letting them go.

“I don’t care what you say if this had been a white dad/mom with 2 little black kids, they would probably been offered an upgrade, not an interrogation,” he captioned his post. “I forgot to note that American has been my airline of choice since 2004. #fixyourshit.”

The musician made attempts to contact the airline before going public but was met with silence from American Airlines’ customer service.

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The father of two claims officers never explicitly mentioned child trafficking as their concern but did express their need to ensure he was not traveling with minors that were not his without permission.

“And if they’re so concerned about child trafficking, shouldn’t the airlines have some protocol in place to stop me from flying with a child I stole long before I’m ON THE PLANE??,” Harris questioned in a second video on the incident. “You’re telling me that they can stop me from carrying a capri sun through TSA, but they can’t put safeguards in place for actual human beings?”

American Airlines is now investigating the incident and has given Harris 10,000 frequent flyer miles as an apology in the meantime.