SACRAMENTO, Calif — Outrage grows as Allegiant Air responds to racial profiling claims after kicking teen boys, accused of not wearing their face masks, from a flight as the teens tried to get home to Sacramento from Arizona.
David Schuhmeier, Brian Buchanan and Corey Brown were traveling with their basketball team when airline workers ordered them off their flight. Schuhmeierold says they were wearing their masks and that he was afraid when the police showed up.
"With everything that is going on, I didn't know," Schuhmeier explained. "I could have been killed or arrested. I didn't know what was going to happen to us. It was traumatic."
The teens were concerned because they had nowhere to go.
Voice of the Youth Founder Berry Accius criticized the airline for not calling the teens' family and throwing them outside to their own devices. He is launching a call to action urging people to call out Allegiant Air for what he describes as racial profiling.
"These are young men," Accius said. "Good students. A-Plus students that have done this trip several times."
Allegiant Airlines released a statement saying that the airline does not discriminate based on race, gender, ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation. The statement also says diversity and inclusion is a core value for the company.
President Joe Biden's executive order in January that requires all air travelers to wear masks went into effect in late January.
"The party referenced aboard flight 208 on February 8 refused to comply with federal regulations requiring face coverings throughout travel," according to the statement provided. "Following repeated refusals to comply on board the aircraft, the party was deplaned from the flight."
Brown said he wants the airline to be honest about the reason why they were kicked off the plane.
"It couldn't have been just the mask," Brown said. "You had people on the plane not wearing masks at all."
