Comedians Eric André and Clayton English have reached a $30,000 settlement with Clayton County, ending a federal lawsuit that accused county police officers of racially profiling travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Clayton County did not admit fault or liability under the agreement. The county’s Board of Commissioners authorized the payment on Aug. 4, with André and English each receiving $15,000.
The settlement also confirms that the Clayton County Police Department has ended its airport interdiction program and does not intend to reactivate it.
Officers assigned to the airport will be required to wear body cameras and receive training concerning the constitutional limits governing police encounters with travelers. The agreement was announced Aug. 18.
The lawsuit was filed in October 2022 following separate encounters involving the two comedians. English said officers stopped him on a jet bridge in October 2020 while he was traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
André reported a similar encounter in April 2021 while boarding a flight to Los Angeles during an Atlanta layover.
Both men, who are Black, alleged that officers singled them out, questioned them about drugs and made them feel that they could not refuse to cooperate.
Police records cited in the lawsuit showed officers conducted 402 jet-bridge stops between August 2020 and April 2021. Race was recorded for 378 travelers, including 211 Black passengers. People of color accounted for 68% of the documented stops.
According to the lawsuit, the 402 encounters produced only three reported drug seizures and more than $1 million in seized cash and money orders from 25 travelers.
Most of those travelers were allowed to continue their trips without being charged. Eight challenged the cash seizures, leading the county to return much of the money through settlements.
A federal judge dismissed the case in 2023, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived part of it in 2025.
The appeals court concluded that André and English had plausibly alleged violations of their Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
The settlement ends the litigation without a court deciding whether Clayton County or its officers violated the men’s rights.
Yolonda Harris
News Now Georgia
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