A crowd is expected to gather outside San Francisco City Hall today in support of a man who was removed from a U.S. Airways flight and arrested last month after he allegedly refused to pull up his sagging pants.
Deshon Marman, 20, was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and trespassing on June 15 after boarding a flight from San Francisco to Albuquerque, N.M., where he is a student and football player at the University of New Mexico.
Marman was instructed by airline crew members several times to pull up his pants to cover his underwear, both before he boarded and while on the plane, according to San Francisco police.
He allegedly refused to do so, and eventually the plane’s captain told the other passengers to deplane, ordered Marman to leave the aircraft and then placed him under citizen’s arrest for trespassing after he refused to exit, police said.
Marman was escorted off the plane by police and then allegedly resisted officers when they tried to handcuff him. One officer suffered a cut to his hand and a sprained knee in the struggle, according to police.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has not filed charges against Marman, who posted $11,000 bail and was released from jail. The district attorney’s office has until the end of the week to decide whether to charge him.
Today’s rally is also in support of a resolution that will be introduced at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting by Supervisor Malia Cohen, whose district includes the Bayview, where Marman grew up.
The resolution calls for San Francisco to join the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in asking for the case to be dismissed and for a formal apology from U.S. Airways.
The airline released a statement after last month’s incident, saying while the company “does not have a specific dress code, we ask our customers to dress in an appropriate manner to ensure the safety and comfort of all of our passengers.”
Today’s rally was scheduled to start at noon and will precede the 2 p.m. meeting of the Board of Supervisors where Cohen will introduce the resolution.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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