Virginia Man Mistakenly Accused of Trafficking

John Kerrigan, a Virginia father, was mistakenly accused of human trafficking while flying with his 15-year-old daughter and her 16-year-old friend on a Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to Norfolk. The suspicion arose when a flight attendant, following the Department of Homeland Security's Blue Lightning Initiative guidelines, questioned the girls about their relationship with Kerrigan. Upon landing, three police officers escorted Kerrigan off the plane for questioning, a process he found humiliating despite not being charged. The Blue Lightning Initiative is a program aimed at training airline staff to recognize signs of human trafficking, which led to this misjudgment. Kerrigan, while supportive of efforts to stop human trafficking, criticized the manner in which the situation was handled, emphasizing the need for more sensitive procedures. Southwest Airlines did not comment specifically on the incident but confirmed their adherence to the Blue Lightning Initiative training.