Deshon Marman Supporters Delivering Petition For Apology to US Airways

(Bay City News) The family and supporters of a man arrested at San Francisco International Airport in June after allegedly ignoring instructions to pull up his sagging pants on a US Airways flight are headed to the airport this morning to seek an apology.

The group is delivering nearly 40,000 signatures on a petition asking for U.S. Airways to apologize for the June 15 incident in which Deshon Marman, 20, was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and trespassing after boarding a flight to Albuquerque, N.M.

San Francisco police said Marman, a student and football player at the University of New Mexico, was instructed by airline crew members several times to pull up his pants to cover his underwear both before and after he boarded the plane. Police said he refused to leave the plane and then resisted officers when they tried to handcuff him. Marman's family has said he told airline staff that he could not pull up his pants because he was carrying bags and his hands were full.

Last month, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against Marman in the case.

His family, along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the civil rights organization ColorofChange.org, planned to deliver the signatures to the U.S. Airways ticket counter at the airport this morning.

The Rev. Amos Brown, president of the NAACP's San Francisco chapter, said the Marman family also plans to file a lawsuit against US Airways in the next few days. The national NAACP is also pressuring U.S. Airways to apologize and review its policies, Brown said.

US Airways officials were not immediately available for comment this morning. The airline has previously said that the issue in Marman's case was not his style of clothing but rather his refusal to comply with orders from the flight crew.