Court: Police can’t be included in airline arrest suit

By Cy Ryan

Thursday, May 5, 2016 | 1:15 a.m.

A federal appeals court has ruled Metro Police officers had immunity from a civil suit when they took a woman into custody who was accused of causing a disturbance on a cross-country flight in 2008.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday that JetBlue Airways Corp. must still face allegations of false arrest and false imprisonment of Marilyn Parver, a 56-year-old woman who was on a flight from New York to Las Vegas.

Police in Las Vegas were alerted by the airline that a passenger on an arriving flight was possibly drunk, was taking photos in a sensitive area and was not following orders from the flight crew.

Metro Officers Maurice Rodriguez-Gallar and Johnathan Ankeny arrested the woman. The court ruled the officers had immunity from the suit because they had probable cause to arrest the woman.

Parver maintained she had taken a video of a flight attendant yelling at a passenger and telling him to shut up and go to sleep. She maintains members of the flight crew then asked her to delete the video. She refused.

The airline then called police, who made the arrest.

The court found that JetBlue was not guilty of a conspiracy with police on the arrest. But the court said the claims by Parver of false arrest and false imprisonment are subject to further legal proceedings.