Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
A Southern California man has become the latest person to sue the federal government over what he says is an unconstitutional search of his phone at the Los Angeles International Airport.
According to his lawsuit, which was recently filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Haisam Elsharkawi had arrived at LAX on February 9, 2017 and was headed to Saudi Arabia to go on a hajj, the Muslim religious pilgrimage.
After clearing the security checkpoint, Elsharkawi, an American citizen, was pulled aside from the Turkish Airlines boarding line by a Customs and Border Protection officer, who began questioning him about how much cash he was carrying and where he was going. Elsharkawi complied with the officer's inquiries and dutifully followed him to a nearby table.
"As the questioning continued and became increasingly aggressive, Mr. Elsharkawi asked if there was a problem and whether he needed an attorney," the complaint states. "Officer Rivas then accused Mr. Elsharkawi of hiding something because of his request for an attorney."
Soon after, another agent, Officer Rodriguez, began searching Elsharkawi's pockets and discovered his phone. Rodriguez asked Elsharkawi to unlock his phone, which he declined to do. He then also refused to answer further questions without having an attorney present.
Another officer told Elsharkawi that he was not under arrest and as such had no right to an attorney—at which point he asked to be released.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Friday December 21 2018, @11:47PM (2 children)
Sorry, no. Arrests for secret reasons and whisking people to undisclosed locations while not letting them speak with a lawyer are all things more closely associated with iron curtain countries than the United States. No exceptions.
Nobody seemed to see a need to arrest him at all until he refused to unlock his phone (which is his right). Simply not being willing to be searched does not create probable cause for searching someone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @10:24AM (1 child)
This person was never arrested.
He unlocked his phone voluntarily
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday December 22 2018, @06:34PM
So the handcuffs placed on him were just a gift of exotic jewelry? If you're not under arrest, you're free to go. If you're not free to go, you're under arrest. He was not free to go. He unlocked his phone under duress.