A ‘traumatized’ single mom has claimed Southwest Airlines accused her of child trafficking while she was traveling with her four-year-old son from Florida to Ohio.
Video footage shows the moment Mary Bridgetta Tomarchio, 45, was confronted by two armed police officers at at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on February 17 after receiving a suspicious report from ‘a pilot’.
Tomarchio told DailyMail.com she thought the officers were joking at first but quickly became terrified as they questioned her and asked for proof she was his mother.
The brunette publicist said she is aware she and her blonde son, Lucian Merk, look different and had even dyed her locks lighter earlier this month so they would look more alike. The pair also have different last names as he shares his father’s surname.
But the mother added that the incident was unacceptable and called on the industry to introduce a proper protocol.
She said: ‘The unjust accusation left me feeling humiliated and emotionally traumatized and highlights a trouble pattern of discriminatory behavior towards single parents, particularly those who who do not share the same last names or physical appearances as their children’.
Bridgetta Tomarchio pictured with her four-year-old son, Lucian Merk, who has his father’s surname
The single mom claims she was accused by the Southwest pilot of child trafficking and stopped by two police officers at the Cincinnati Airport
Tomarchio is a publicist and book coach and has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram
‘It is unacceptable that in this day and age, a single mother traveling with their child can be targeted and accused of such a heinous crime based solely on unfounded suspicions without any protocol in place,’ she added.
Tomarchio said she travels at least once a month, sometimes twice, with her son to visit the child’s father, who lives in Ohio.
The publicist and book coach is a Rapid Rewards member and said she has ‘no idea why she was singled out.’
She was approached by two officers at the Hertz car rental desk, who cited a call from a pilot who had raised concerns. This was confirmed in the airport’s report.
Bodycam footage from the airport showed one officer asking Tomarchio. ‘So we just got a couple of calls. Is this your child?’
A bemused Tomarchio responded: ‘Yeah!’
The officer continued, ‘I don’t know exactly what was going on, but the pilot was concerned about potential trafficking’ – to which the shocked mom replied: ‘What?’
He explained that they were just responding to a call before asking for some identification.
Tomarchio immediately began searching for documents she could show to prove the child was her son but was unable to connect to the airport’s WiFi to access an electronic copy of his birth certificate on Google Drive.
She then handed over their airline tickets, medical and dental care cards with both their names on it, a museum card and her own ID.
‘I can show you the millions of photos that are on my phone,’ she added. ‘If you go on Instagram you can look me up. I am actually well known and he is all over my Instagram.’
After the incident, Tomarchio went to her Instagram, to upload a furious video detailing the ordeal to her 50,000 plus followers
The officers immediately backed down and said: ‘You’re all right. Sorry for the inconvenience’. They then wished her well and left.
Shortly after, Tomarchio took to her Instagram page to upload a furious video detailing the ordeal she had just been through for her 50,000 plus followers.
‘No parent should go through this,’ she said.
‘I am advocating for myself and for all single parents from similar mistreatment in the future,’ she added.
Many jumped to her defense calling the incident ‘bizarre,’ ‘super scary,’ and told her that her call to action was ‘a great public service announcement for parents.’
Others offered advice that included keeping a copy of her son’s birth certificate on her at all times, getting a letter from the child’s father indicating that he is aware that their son is traveling and filing a complaint with the airline.
Tomarchio is now calling for airlines to implement a protocol that includes a series of questions passengers are asked before involving law enforcement in cases of suspected child trafficking.
She said Southwest Airlines had attempted to reach out to her but she does not want to respond until she has sought legal advice.
On Tuesday, she created a petition on change.org, calling for it to be made a requirement that all children carry government-issued ID’s stating both legal parents’ names while traveling.
‘This measure will not only protect children, but also reassure parents about their children’s safety during air travel,’ she said.
‘It will help airlines establish clear protocols around child passengers and ensure they are traveling with legitimate guardians or parents.’
A Southwest spokesperson denied that its employees were involved in the situation.
A statement from the airline read: ‘Calls made to local authorities appeared to have been placed by an individual or individuals who are not affiliated Southwest Airlines. These are serious allegations, and we appreciate the patience from the Customer to allow us to look into these claims’.
Mary MacCarthy and her biracial daughter Moira, 10 at the time, were flying to a funeral on October 22, 2021, after the sudden death of her brother, when they were stopped by officers in the Denver airport where she was accused of human trafficking. Now, she is suing Southwest Airlines for racial profiling
This is not the first time Southwest has come under fire for accusing a mother of human trafficking her own child.
Mary MacCarthy, who is white, was stopped by police officers at Denver International Airport while traveling with her mixed-race daughter Moira, now 12, to a funeral in October 2021.
The single mom, who works in tech and lives in Los Angeles, said she was questioned by two police officers on the jet bridge before she was eventually let go.
She filmed the incident, with the video showing a Southwest staffer and two airport cops explaining to MacCarthy why she had been pulled aside.
But the incident left her so shaken she has now filed a lawsuit against the airline in Colorado for ‘blatant racism.’
In her lawsuit, the mom alleged that the child trafficking allegations came ‘for no reason other than the different color of her daughter’s skin from her own’.
She added that the incident caused ‘extreme emotional distress,’ and is seeking economic damages, compensatory damages, as well as punitive and exemplary damages.
MacCarthy told Newsweek: ‘To this day, when Moira and I are out in public—and especially at airports or on planes—I’m hyperaware that we might be judged and reported for any interaction we have with each other.’
‘It’s a strange feeling to be on alert about your most basic behaviors with your child, and it’s exhausting. As for Moira, she still clams up and doesn’t want to talk about what happened.’
MacCarthy’s attorney, David Lane, said the lawsuit was filed to bring accountability and get the company to re-examine its training and policies.
He continued: ‘In using racial profiling to cause the Denver police to stop innocent travelers, Southwest Airlines has attempted to address serious the criminal activity of sex-trafficking through use of a stereotypical, easy formula.
‘Just as the police are constitutionally not permitted to stop-and-frisk young men of color based upon their race, corporate America is similarly not permitted to resort to such profiling to use law enforcement to stop and question racially diverse families simply based upon their divergent races, which is what Southwest did.’
Southwest Airlines said it does not have any comment on the pending litigation
He told DailyMail.com: ‘We are in court doing discovery at this point. The case is in its early stages and we will continue to reach out to Southwest to see if they are interested in settling this matter.’
At the time, Southwest said in a statement that it was ‘disheartened to learn of this mother’s account when traveling with her daughter.’
‘We are conducting a review of the situation internally, and we will be reaching out to the customer to address her concerns and offer our apologies for her experience traveling with us,’ a spokesperson added.
