Cindy McCain Saw a Multiracial Family and Sent Police After Them for "Human Trafficking"

 Cindy McCain, the widow of late Arizona senator John McCain, has  apologized after wrongfully claiming that she rescued a toddler from  human trafficking at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. McCain  went on the radio to brag about how she saved a child from traffickers,  but police later confirmed that the whole situation was actually a false  alarm, thanks to a presumptuous Cindy McCain. As McCain herself  describes, she saw a child at the airport who was traveling with adults  of a different race and got a bad feeling that something wasn’t right. Speaking with KTAR News on Monday, McCain said: 

“I came in from a trip I’d been on and I spotted — it  looked odd. It was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child,  this little toddler she had, and something didn’t click with me. I tell  people: Trust your gut. I went over to the police and told them what I  thought, and they went over and questioned her. And by God, she was  trafficking that kid.”

McCain assumed that the woman was waiting for a guy who was “buying the child.”   “A toddler. It was a toddler. She was waiting for the guy who bought the child to get off the airplane,” McCain said. On Wednesday, the Phoenix Police Department clarified that the family who McCain reported wasn’t actually doing anything wrong. Sgt. Armando Carbajal of the Phoenix Police Department said that “officers determined there was no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment” following a welfare check. McCain quickly posted an apology on Twitter, saying:   

“At Phoenix Sky Harbor, I reported an incident that I  thought was trafficking. I commend the police officers for their  diligence. I apologize if anything else I have said on this matter  distracts from ‘if you see something, say something.'”

 McCain says that she hopes this experience will not deter other  travelers from snitching on people who they might find suspicious. The McCain Institute issued a statement to AzCentral indicating that the ethnicity of the “possible trafficker” was not the reason why she reported the situation: 

 

“When Cindy reported what she thought was an incident  of trafficking at the airport she was only thinking about the possible  ramifications of a criminal act, not the ethnicity of the possible  trafficker. Her hyper sensitivity to looking for trafficking in  this instance was not correct, but it should in no way distract from  the broader importance that we all have a responsibility to be aware of  this kind of crime. This incident should in no way discourage anyone  from reporting potential trafficking issues to law enforcement.”

McCain says that this is a good example of why people should always  tell authorities when they see something suspicious. However, this is  more an example of why people should mind their own business than make  baseless claims that may have unintended and severe consequences.  Luckily, this situation was resolved without incident, but sending the  police after someone, especially an innocent parent, could potentially  change their life and their children’s lives forever.