When the passenger wouldn't comply with the flight crew's request to pull his pants up, things got intense. Deshon Marman went to the San Mateo County Jail on Wednesday and has been charged with trespassing, battery, and resisting arrest.
U.S. Airways Flight No. 488, bound for Albuquerque, should've left San Francisco International Airport just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday, but it didn't. That's because San Francisco police and U.S. Air crew members say 20-year-old Marman was dressed inappropriately.
"There was a passenger on board the aircraft that had boarded the aircraft with his pants down around his knees showing his briefs, his underwear," said SF Police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez. "One of the flight attendants on that aircraft was offended by the fact that she could see the outline of his private area."
She asked the University of New Mexico football player to pull up his pants. Police say he refused. Then the plane's captain got involved.
"Deshon said, 'Mom, I talked to the pilot, everything was cool, everything was fine," said Marman's mother, Donna Doyle.
But it was far from it. The captain threatened to make a citizen's arrest if Marman didn't comply. Then the police got involved. They cuffed and removed him from the plane.
"He was not threatening anybody directly, but being on board an aircraft and being disruptive to the aircraft crew interferes with their duties and that could be a safety factor," said Rodriguez.
"He was attacked for three reasons: his clothing, his skin, and his hair," said Doyle.
U.S. Airways admits the airline has no official dress code policy, but that passengers are required to dress appropriately and follow flight crew requests.
"So you don't like someone wearing a turban, you become offended, you ask them to take it off, they don't take it off, you have them removed from the plane? This is his clothing," said Doyle.
Doyle admits her son should've pulled up his pants and complied. She also says he was upset. The reason he came back to San Francisco was to attend the funeral of his best friend David Henderson, on Tuesday. The former high school football star was murdered.
Marman is on a full ride football scholarship and is supposed to be back in New Mexico for summer school and football practice. His arraignment is Thursday afternoon.
