Athlete Who Tackled Shoebomber Fights Deportation

March 18, 2003 -- A professional basketball player who helped stop shoebomber Richard Reid from bringing down a transatlantic flight said he is being deported, despite promises from federal officials that he could stay.

It was three days before Christmas, and just three months after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, when Richard Reid attempted to bring down a transatlantic flight by igniting a bomb in his shoe. There were 197 people aboard, many of them Americans.

Six foot eight, 250-pound professional basketball player Kwame James was awakened by the commotion and quickly helped slam down and subdue Reid, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall, and a self-described member of the terrorist group al Qaeda.

"I helped tie him up, helped hold him down, stood guard over him for three hours, you know, while the F-15s escorted us in, and just, you know, played a direct role in subduing him," said James, who played at the University of Evansville.

A Guilty Plea From Reid

James, who was here on a visitor's visa, said immigration officials promised him a work permit during Reid's trial, but reneged once the defendant pleaded guilty.

After the plane landed safely, James was asked to remain in the United States and to testify as a witness against Reid. Federal prosecutors assured him that he could remain in the United States. But now, immigration authorities say they were unaware of such an agreement.

"Prior to the case, they were informing me that, you know, I'd be allowed to stay through a witness protection type visa," he said. But then, Reid pleaded guilty and his reason for staying disappeared.

"There was no reason for me to testify, and therefore there was no reason for me to get a work permit," he said. That was the last he heard from federal prosecutors or the Department of Justice.

Like Flight 93 Heroes

His attorney, Michael Wilde, said that Kwame deserves a green card based on his act of heroism. He compared him to the Flight 93 passengers who fought back against the Sept. 11 hijackers, apparently preventing them from hitting their intended target.

"Kwame is no different from Todd Beamer or Jeremy Glick," Wilde said. "He rose not only to protect our citizens, but to protect something that we hold very dear to our country, and I feel that Kwame should not get a green card or citizenship because of that act, but should not be punished for it as well."

Assurances by government agents that he could remain in the country were "forgotten when Richard Reid pled guilty," he said.

"This young man not only saved millions of dollars on American Airlines, but 197 American citizens' souls. And for our government to turn its back on this hero, that only sends a message that we haven't learned anything in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks, but would actually embarrass the founding fathers of our country who saw this country as a haven for people like Kwame, people who rose to an occasion," Wilde said.

Another Basketball Gig?

Willing to go to court to convict Richard Reid, Kwame is now just hoping to continue to hone his skills on a U.S. basketball court.

Another basketball contract may keep him here for a while longer.

"I'm actually in negotiations with the Brooklyn Kings of the U.S. basketball league, which is a summer league, kind of minor league for the NBA," James said. He doesn't feel betrayed by the country, but rather by the officials he said misled him.

"It just seemed like there was a phone call every week about, you know, what's going to happen with the case, when the trial's going to be? And as soon as he pled guilty, the phone calls just stopped all of a sudden," James said.