Elderly Deaf Passenger Arrested At Austin Airport Gets $92,500—Sheriff Says She’s “Proud” Of Her Staff

Travis County, home to the Austin, Texas airport, has paid $92,500 to settle a passenger’s disability lawsuit after a deaf traveler connecting there wound up spending two nights in jail and emerged with a broken wrist. Sheriff Sally Hernandez says, “I’m proud of the way our employees performed their duties.” On September 13, 2022, McGee was traveling from Atlanta to Seattle through Austin. The Florida resident had severe hearing loss and relied on hearing aids and lip reading. According to the court’s account of her complaint, she turned off her hearing aids using her phone while waiting at the gate because she was having trouble with ambient noise and missed an announcement that her departure gate had changed. Delta rebooked her onto Alaska Airlines. Her cousin was aboard an earlier, delayed Alaska flight that was still at the airport. As her attorney explained, she asked to move to that earlier flight. She approached three successive gate agents. She spoke loudly because her hearing aids weren’t set correctly, and says the agents didn’t write down their answers or face her so she could read their lips. Agents described her as drunk (she wasn’t). By the time Austin police dealt with her, she was being told she no longer had a ticket and had to leave the airport. Officers read a trespass notice she says she couldn’t understand, without giving it to her to read. They put her in a wheelchair and moved her out of the secure area. An officer warned her about going to jail while standing behind her, where she couldn’t read his lips. After she stood up in the arrivals area, officers handcuffed her and took her away. She was charged with criminal trespass. Her Phone Controlled Her Hearing Aids Police confiscated her phone. For McGee, that also meant losing access to the controls for her hearing aids. At the jail, she says employees continued issuing commands without slowing down, removing masks so she could read their lips, or writing instructions. She says she told staff there more than 20 times that she couldn’t hear or understand them. McGee alleged that jail employees twisted her wrist while trying to remove her wedding ring (although it may have happened while being handcuffed). She said she received pain medication but no X-ray or other medical attention. After release, with a dead phone she wasn’t allowed to charge in the lobby, she collapsed outside and was assisted by medics. She later needed surgery. The District Attorney declined to prosecute the trespass charge. The passenger’s lawsuit described jail staff withholding access to the phone that controlled her hearing aids, continuing to give instructions she couldn’t understand, and using force when she didn’t comply. The sheriff’s praise is what’s galling: which part of that encounter should employees repeat the next time a deaf traveler comes through? Topics on this page