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Comedians Settle Lawsuit After Clayton County Ends Airport Jet‑Bridge Interdiction Program

The county agreed to require body cameras and constitutional‑rights training for airport officers, a change that could limit coercive stops of travelers.

FILE - Comedians Clayton English, center, and Eric André, right, speak with their attorney, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)
FILE - Comedian Eric André, right, speaks at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2022, as his attorneys Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, left, and Richard Deane watch. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)
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Overview

  • The settlement, announced by the comedians' lawyers on Tuesday, follows authorization by the Clayton County Board for a $30,000 payment split between Eric André and Clayton English.
  • Clayton County publicly confirmed it has ended the specialized airport interdiction program that placed officers on jet bridges to stop travelers.
  • As part of the deal the county agreed that police assigned to Hartsfield‑Jackson will wear body‑worn cameras and receive training on constitutional limits for airport encounters.
  • Court records cited in the lawsuit show 402 jet‑bridge stops from Aug. 30, 2020, to Apr. 30, 2021, that yielded only three drug seizures but more than $1 million in cash and money orders from 25 passengers, with 56% of recorded stops involving Black travelers.
  • The legal fight reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in August 2025, which revived claims that the stops could violate the Fourth Amendment, but the settlement includes no admission of liability and leaves unanswered whether officers faced discipline or whether there are other undisclosed terms.