If you go way, way back in the annals of the travel world, you may find a story about a United Airlines pilot named Andrew Collins.
In September 2018, Collins, who had been with United for 25 years at that point, was forced to divert his flight to Denver International Airport due to thunderstorms. He was assigned to layover at the DIA Westin, part of Marriott, with plans to fly to Cedar Rapids, Iowa the next afternoon.
Collins was booked into room 1017 at the Westin. It was dark outside when he arrived. During his career he had, understandably, stayed at a couple thousand hotels, so when he woke up and looked around his room, he concluded that his window, which faced north, towards the terminal, was tinted. So he opened the curtains to let the sun it.
On his way to take a shower, Collins made a phone call, during which he paced around the room using a hands-free Bluetooth-enabled device. One phone call led to another and suddenly, at 11am, there was a hammering on the door to his room – Denver Police Officer Karl Coleman announced that he and other law enforcement agents with him, including DPD Sergeant Kim Pfannkuch, would be entering with or without Collins’s permission.
The window wasn’t tinted. Witnesses inside the airport had told police they could see a naked man in an upper floor window of the Westin Denver International Airport.
“These officers went into the hotel room without a warrant and without probable cause, and immediately took physical control of Andy,” Collin’s attorney, Craig Silverman, said. “They handcuffed him…and he was in jail for days before he was able to be released,” with charges that included indecent exposure.
But the thing is, he hadn’t done anything wrong. From NBC News:
Under Colorado law, a person commits indecent exposure if they knowingly expose their genitals to the view of any person, under circumstances in which such conduct was likely to cause affront or alarm to the other person, with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of any person, the notice of claim states. While there was nudity in this case, it was not sexual, Silverman said.
“Captain Collins thought he was alone and not in anyone’s view,” the notice of claim states. “It is not a crime to be naked in Denver. It is certainly not a crime to be naked in one’s hotel room.”
The charges against him were dismissed in March 2019.
As per Silverman, Collins suffered trauma and economic damages that would justify an award of over a million dollars. But he was eventually willing to settle for $300,000 from the City of Denver in November 2019.
You’d think that would be the end of the story, but nope, it wasn’t.
Collins had also filed a complaint against the Westin. He argued that hotel staff conspired with the Denver Police Department to violate his rights.
“Instead of calling up to the room to alert the occupant that he was being seen, the Denver police decided to bust into his room — and they did so with the assistance of staff at the DIA Westin,” Silverman was quoted in Westword.
Collins also believes the hotel should have warned him that his room was significantly less private than he thought it was.
In January 2021, United States District Court Judge William Martinez approved a motion to
dismiss Collins’ lawsuit against the hotel.
“It is well-established that the Fourth Amendment protects hotel guests from unreasonable searches and seizures. However, plaintiff [Collins] provides no legal support for his contention that a hotel has a duty to protect its guests’ Fourth Amendment rights, or that defendant’s lack of training to protect hotel guests’ Fourth Amendment rights is a ‘danger,’” U.S. District Judge William Martinez wrote in his 14-page order.
Martinez also sided with the hotel in finding that Collins failed to show that Westin, “was aware, or should have been aware, that aspects of its windows could potentially lead an unsuspecting guest to erroneously conclude that the windows were opaque and expose himself.”
Collins, he added, had “failed to allege the existence of a conspiracy” between hotel staffers and the DPD.
Collins was not prepared to take that decision lying down. Instead, through his lawyer, he made Westin aware that they had the right to appeal.
Westin was apparently “done” at this point, caved, and quietly settled with Collins in early 2021.
Said Silverman, “Andy’s pleased with the justice he’s received in our criminal and civil justice systems.”
As Paul Harvey used to say, “and now you know the rest of the story.”
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
