Woman files $20 million civil rights lawsuit over ordeal that started with missing AirPods 

50+ court appearances?! What a waste of time and resources! And who is this so called eyewitness?

Why do you need 50 hearings over a pair of AirPods? For real criminals don't have 50 hearings. She stood her ground and won her case and now i hope she wins a sizeable settlement!

I wonder how much money the city has spent on this $100 ticket that got thrown out so far 😂

50 hearings and a trial with no evidence...and they still tried to make her a criminal, and hoped that she would just get tired and give in... that's crazy. The Lawsuit is definitely warranted. 4 Years!! They tried to frame her for 4 years, she had to go through all of college with this mess!!

why are we giving tickets to high school students?

Never surrender to a corrupt system when you know you're innocent.

This situation was handled poorly from the beginning. Harris had 50+ court appearances over the last four years before proving her innocence. The officer had no direct evidence but still issued a $100 ticket. I hope Harris receives a hefty settlement and more school districts take note.

Ticketing students for theft? I’ve never heard of this. If there’s theft, go to small claims and have a judge determine the damages. A school resource officer isn’t a judge. This isn’t like a traffic or parking violation where an officer can use objective measures as the basis for ticketing. A $100 fine because an officer thinks a student stole something is arbitrary.

Most you guys in the comments are missing the point. She’s fighting this because, it was an honest mistake and the jury believed her, but the point she is trying to prove, is of being accused of something and being called a thief, when she wasn’t. She should just get court costs and time spent doing this and an apology. I think the 20 million is just a “hey I’m serious”. She knows she won’t get the 20 million, it’s just a wake up call for this crap to stop happening.

This is possibly the biggest waste of public resources I can imagine.

Great job, glad she didn't give up!

This young Woman, Didn't back down. 50 court appearances, She did right not to pay, Became she did nothing wrong. I hope and Pray she wins her settlement.

Not a different form of racism. Just plain racism. Trying to wrongly collect 100.00 migh cost them 20 million

"The most dangerous thing in life is an incompetent that has been given a gun and a law enforcement badge." - Steven Magee

The acquittal does pretty much set a declaration of the finding of fact. So the city is wrong when it says "does not negate the factual basis" because there was no 'factual basis' - there was accusation only.

“Why she get $20 million dollar hurr durr” bro if I had to spend 4 years in legal turmoil because of an honest mistake I too would like 20 million dollars. Turn your brains back on!

This does not surprise me AT ALL in Naperville. I hated working there. Good for her.

only in America

Do what I do, put a label on all your stuff. And this is weird bc when I report stolen stuff, esp from a school, I never hear back from anyone.

They was expecting her to just pay. They do this to soo many black people and they are too busy living paycheck to paycheck to take that to court. They need to dissolve Naperville police.

If a jury finds you innocent. You are innocent, and the charge can no longer be classified as fact. Come on now.

This type of thing happens more than what is reported. Back in 2008, I had a similar situation happen during my undergrad because a white young lady did not want to share the dorm with me over summer break. She wanted the room to herself to share with her boyfriend (in a non-coed dorm). She filed a false report that I stole her earrings and I was kicked out of the dorm. She was wearing the "stolen" earrings the next week.

I am glad she is standing-up for her rights. If you don't exercise them, you will use them.

Absolutely RIDICULOUS

Some Naperville cops are idiots. I got profiled a couple of times years ago when I used to work in Aurora. My brother and I used to work together, and he lived in Naperville. He even got profiled when TCF banks located in Jewel were getting robbed. He walked across the street to go get some beer, and on the way home got surrounded by Naperville cops, for "fitting the description." So, it doesn’t surprise me that a school resource officer has traumatized this young lady, and the city of Naperville has claimed no wrongdoing. I hope that she wins her lawsuit, and is awarded every penny or more. Naperville should be ashamed of their actions, attitude, and behavior, because there’s no way that this should’ve lasted this long.

I had no idea schools issued tickets! What the duece? 😮

While thousands of innocent people sit in jails without representation

They messed with the wrong woman right there.

If this was a yt girl, would they have issued her a ticket...?!? 🤔🤔🤔

Rapists and Killers NEVER face this absolutely insane

These comments are the very reason her actions are necessary. She knows as well as us all she will not see 20Million, but we all know what those in power care about. 20million makes everyone turn their head and try to find out what this is all about. People that don't have to worry discrimination don't know that.

Naperville North High School administrators are ridiculous, so many fundamental changes are necessary to make that school a safe environment for children. This case is one of many awful things the leaders of the school have done. She never should have faced this, and I am so glad to see that she has held an unwavering voice against them for their false accusations. The school resource officer uses brutal intimidation tactics and she has been so strong, even when she should not had to have been, innocent until proven guilty? Clearly not in their eyes. The adults running the school need to take a good look at themselves in the mirror, they should feel remorse for all the suffering they have caused for so many people. For so many CHILDREN.

Sickening.

When did they start issuing tickets at school? Also I wish there was definitive way to identify the AirPod owner.

20 million dollars. My property taxes just went up.

All airpods look the same unless you get a special case. Smh. An easy mistake anyone could have made

I know this happens all the time with the main stream news but why couldn't they simply ask some basic questions? We all know AirPods have to pair to your phone. So, as soon as she pulled them out of the case she would have known if they were hers or not. They weren't hers. She said she left hers on a table in a study area and when she returned to the study area she saw them and took them thinking they were hers (correct me if I'm wrong here). I suppose it's possible two people left their AirPods sitting on a table, especially when we're talking about teenagers but still it's a little far fetched. It wasn't until several days later that a friend of the girl who lost the AirPods noticed them connect to her Chrome Laptop (because she paired them to her laptop earlier) but with Amara's name. She took a screen shot of it and confronted Amara who denied that they were the other girls AirPods. The girl who owned the AirPods said they were taken out of her bag that she left in a classroom. The girl who owned the AirPods father is the one who contacted the school and wanted to press charges. It's all in the court case (I got this from the Chicago Tribune). So why couldn't NBC ask these simple questions so we, the viewers, could make some sense of this?

That girl is lying and trying to keep up her “good image” for her family. Of course they’ll side with her, and of course they’d be the ones to demand 20 mil from this situation. It all sounds ridiculous and I’m not buyin it.

So she got caught stealing

The reporting sucks. They never explained how it was that this woman thought the AirPods were hers and how the AirPods were taken in the first place. How about asking the other student for their story?

As one data point, my granddaughter who is a good student really blossomed and loved this one middle school she went to. Then she moved to another district. She hated the first year there, at her new school so they transferred her to a magnet school. She also hated it there. I asked what was the difference between the middle school she loved and the two other middle schools and she said that the first school had more counselors that would sit with the kids at lunch and snack, make sure no kids were sitting by themselves, and had an open door policy - anytime a kid was having a bad day they were dismissed to go talk to the counselor with whom they had already established a good relationship. All the kids there were indeed more happy and peaceful; kids at the other two schools were little hellions.

So they're willing to spend resources and taxpayer dollars on FIFTY hearings to convict one black student over $100 ticket but now they want to fight to NOT pay her when they lost. She's not gonna get 20 million but I hope she at least gets 1 million. That court system should be ashamed of themselves.

Not enough facts here. Why did she think they were hers - had she just finished using hers at the time? When confronted, did she have two pairs in her possession, or did she not even bring hers to school that day? If she had hers then why didn’t she notice they were already in her bag when she put these in? What makes her story hard to believe from this news segment is it sounds like she assumed they were hers for some unexplained reason, instead of thinking it through or asking when in doubt.

I commend Amara's courage and persistence to fighting these injustices against Blk students. I experienced it myself at a suburban Illinois high school... It definitely dimmed my light and overshadowed my academics to be over-policed and criminalized in school. Congratulations to Amara on her recent graduation! I think she chose a great college and I wish her the best! ❤

Yeah, she was right to defend her innocent. The facts that a jury agreed speak volumes to the merits of the case. However, I would like to know how they arrive at the $20 million lawsuit?

Ridiculous! If she were yt the moment that she returned the AirPods the case would have been closed! They went out of the way to ensure harm.

I think lawyers just throw out these ridiculously high lawsuit numbers in the hopes of settling for at least a million.

I'm so glad you stood up for yourself against the racist ignorant people who violated your rights! God bless and watch over you

I’m confused as to how she grabbed the wrong AirPods… were the two pairs sitting side-by-side?

"When Standing 10 toes Down Goes Right!"...

Hope she wins this subsequent case as well.

This is ridiculous no judge didn’t think to throw this crap out!!!

But they were in her possession, she’s acting like they just pinned it on her!

It made me unhappy, it made me sad. The only way I can get through the trauma is a cheque for $20m. She probably wouldn't earn $20m in 10 lifetimes. What a pathetic story.

this just. shows how broken the System is , ticketing students ?

20k is a more reasonable amount... $20 million?? LOL what's she smoking?

$20mil is a bit excessive. Also….why are kids getting tickets in school that require them to fight it in a “court”? Even IF it had been “theft” I would think that’s a school discipline issue not something they can write a ticket for? Does the police dept run the school or something? They aren’t inmates.

Ridiculous waste of time. The ticket itself was ridiculous. Then, everything thereafter, is even more ridiculous.

Should children be getting tickets?

They could have just bought her some airpods 😂😅

Money grab and it's disgusting

Unfortunately, the only thing politicians will do is more reform such as tort which will then limit lawsuits like this

Seems like this should be below the city

You should be able to customise ear pods and their containers so mistakes like this lady made won't happen. It's so easy to make this mistake. I have done it. It's not a crime It's a simple mistake she should never have been prosecuted.

So she steals the airpods from her friend and then she cries victim? This is why I dont have black acquaintances...

The legal system sucks but this lawsuit is ridiculous 20 million she’s looking for a payday.

Greedy and an opportunist. This is such a waste of time over an AirPod. If she won great but to continue on like this is too much.

This lawsuit is not worth 20 million 😂

Would not happen if those that have similar profile has committed such actions.

Why would she ask for $20 million dollars?

Yay 🎉 get your money girl. They’ll figure it out eventually…. I was given a ticket in college for us not being at a stop sign for more than five seconds… smh 🤦🏾‍♀️

It’s super easy to identity AirPods, are these people stupid? She seems like she just wants to get paid.

So she is gonna sue because she stole the headphones. Do people not realize that after to tale something that isnt your it is theft. The more expensive it is the bigger fine you get. It doesn’t matter if you return it because you still stole it, accident or not.

How do you take the wrong iPods? Bet she didn’t know they could be tracked and got caught

traffic tickets get overturned all the time, and the people that do it can't sue for 20 million

20 million. Good luck with that. The average abuse victim doesn't even get that much.

A lot of people need to be fired and replaced with more intelligent people. Like seriously. This is so ridiculous.

Ppl are treating the judicial system as a one way ticket to riches. Not how it works and it’s honestly the lawyers fault looking for a large paycheck and recognition.

50+ court appearances? How much did that cost vs the $100?

what a clown 🤡

So, she mistakenly took airpods that were not hers and a jury found her not guilty of theft. She did take the airpods though and they did not belong to her. She isn't just some random person walking by who was profiled and accused. She did take the airpods. Depending on what the witness said (left out of the story) the cop would be justified in writing the ticket. She certainly isn't entitled to compensation just because a jury believed it was a mistake.

I saw a video where the cops came to a house looking for iPods and they went in the backyard and everything without a warrant. Cops just can’t do whatever they want. You can’t just take the word of one person over the other. I will always be on the side of civil rights. I hope she wins her case. If she does win her case, she deserves it. Some people say, she stole the iPods. You have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.

Lol 20 million? Gimme a break

20 million ???She wants easy money !!

Say what????? This is too much!!! Lord protect the children from these evil, vile people in the world!!!

20 million ? For AirPods that cost about what 150 ish … nah that’s stupid.

Go girl! ❤

So she admitted she did take them. even though by mistake And the consequences for taking that, which does not belong to you. It's a fine or a ticket. How is that racist?

These schools are too dangerous not have school resource officers

Regardless of the statistics they have to prove that SHE was racially targeted which unless they haven't shared everything that doesn't appear to be the case. Also she was the catalyst for the misunderstanding. They didn't question her out of the blue.

HARASSMENT, look into the city abuse and maybe a audit too for some departments out there ya !

20 million, ok… good luck with that.

I’m sorry this is ridiculous over AirPods and an opportunity to try to sue for millions. If this upset her, she is no going to make it through life, it’s get alot harder and meaner!

AirPods show who is connected. You can usually show who the real owner is in with apple products. The discrimination is real

Bless this baby ❤

an ordeal that has not stopped her from eating well lol

Did she take them and give them back.

Pay up city!!!!! Try not abusing students next time.

Next time I get a speeding ticket, I'll file a $20 million civil rights lawsuit. It just doesn't pay to be honest anymore.

City is about to spend a whopping 20.1 million dollars over some outdated airpods worth about 20 bucks on Craigslist.