It was over a misdemeanor charge of marijuana that Elaine McAlister was falsely arrested at an airport before embarking on a flight to Jamaica, spending the next four nights in jail rather than on vacation before authorities realized they had arrested the wrong Black woman.
Now McAlister, 31, has filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City Airport police officers who arrested her at Kansas City International Airport in 2023, accusing them of false arrest, racial discrimination and harassment.
“Plaintiff believes that the unfair treatment she experienced was discrimination as it relates to her race,” according to the lawsuit filed in Platte County, Missouri, on Jan. 31 by the Holman Schiavone law firm in Kansas City.
“As a result of the discrimination, false arrest, and false imprisonment, Plaintiff has experienced, and continues to experience, significant emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life.”
The defendants listed in the lawsuit are Kansas City Airport police officers Kyle Greewalt and Matthew Zils, as well as the city of Kansas City, which oversees the airport.
McAlister’s arrest is only one out of hundreds of arrests over the years of Black people getting arrested for “matching the description” of another Black person.
Many times, it just takes a similar license plate number for police to falsely accuse Black people of crimes they did not commit. Other times, it just takes a Black person driving a car that slightly resembles the car they are searching for.
McAlister’s arrest came as a shock to her close friends, including Erica Danielle Radley, who described her as “one of the most honest, reliable and most importantly a law-abiding citizen,” on Facebook.
“Elaine is one of the most kindest girls I know,” added Victoria McDaniel in the same Facebook post discussing her unlawful arrest.
“She is a loving mother to her son and been a friend of our family for years. Went to school with my grandaughter, pretty much lived and stayed at our home for years. In other words a part of our family. She’s a Nurse and has a wonderful mother.”
“She did the right thing , sorry you had to go thru this Elaine. All of us that know you personally. Knows they messed with the wrong woman. Go get em girl.”
In the same Facebook post, Caitlyn Monroe said McAlister is “really is one of the most kind people ever. Disgusting this happened. I hope she wins 100% of the lawsuit.“
Invalid Warrant
The lawsuit states that McAlister was actually a victim of identity theft by another Black woman who used her identity when she was arrested for possession of marijuana in Kansas in August 2023, then failed to show up in court, prompting an arrest warrant.
However, the claim accuses the officers of using an invalid warrant to arrest her because it was issued in Kansas while they were in Missouri. It was only after they arrested her that a Missouri prosecutor obtained a valid Missouri warrant, but that’s not how it is supposed to work.
The lawsuit also states that Missouri law does not permit warrantless arrests on fugitives unless they are accused of much more serious crimes which state law describes as crimes “punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.” In other words, felony cases which was not the case here.
The arresting officers also never bothered to obtain her fingerprints to see if they matched the fingerprints of the actual woman who was wanted on the marijuana charge and who is not named in the lawsuit.
The arresting officers also had a photo of the actual suspect, which her lawyers argue did not resemble McAlister other than they were both Black women.
“It is obvious to any reasonable person, let alone a law enforcement officer, that the person in the Johnson County, Kansas booking photograph has no similarity to Plaintiff other than also appearing to be a black/African-American female,” the claim states.
Also, the actual suspect had multiple tattoos, which McAlister did not have, but the arresting officers chose to ignore those details.
“In addition to having the photograph clearly showing a different person, Defendants Greenwalt and Zils had documents relating to Plaintiff’s imposter (“the imposter”) and multiple tattoos that the imposter had–including tattoos on her chest, right arm, and left leg–that Plaintiff did not have,” the claim states.
“This information should have confirmed to Defendants Greenwalt and Zils that Plaintiff was not the person who had been arrested in Johnson County, Kansas, in August 2023 and was not the subject of an arrest warrant.”
The Arrest
The incident took place on October 14, 2023, when McAlister arrived at the airport with a friend to fly to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
But before boarding her flight, she was approached by officers Greenwalt and Zils as well as an unnamed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Officer, who all asked for her identification.
Not understanding what was happening, McAlister provided the officers with her driver’s license and passport, which was when she was placed in handcuffs and informed she was being arrested for a warrant out of Kansas relating to a misdemeanor marijuana charge.
The cops told her she had been pulled over and arrested for possession of marijuana in Johnson County, Kansas, on August 19, 2023, and then failed to appear in court, which prompted the arrest warrant.
But McAlister, who lives in Missouri, said she had not been arrested in Johnson County that day. She also told the officers that her driver’s license had been stolen, which may be why it ended up in the hands of the other Black woman.
McAlister began crying as her friend tried to tell the cops the photos of the two women did not match, but the cops transported her to the Platte County Jail.
It was not until four days later, on October 18, 2023, that an employee at the jail asked McAlister to show him her tattoos, which did not match the tattoos of the actual suspect, which was when he was released.
“Defendants Greenwalt and Zils knew or should have known that the arrest of Plaintiff was illegal and that Defendants had no right to arrest, detain, or imprison Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states.
“As a result of these actions, Plaintiff has experienced emotional distress which has manifested itself in ways including, but not limited to, anxiety, fear, humiliation, degradation, and stress.”
