Man traveling from Puerto Rico to New Orleans denied rental car he paid for
By Arielle Brumfield
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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (WDSU) — A large rental car company has apologized to a Puerto Rican man after denying him a car he paid for at the New Orleans International Airport.
Humberto Marchand traveled to the city and paid for a rental car through Hertz ahead of his trip.
When he arrived, he was denied the car after the employee demanded to see a passport.
Marchand is a United States citizen and did not have his passport on him because his flight was domestic. Puerto Rico is also a United States territory.
Marchand said the Hertz employee called the police and was advised to file a report with the Kenner Police Department by the responding officer.
He says he was hoping the responding officer would confirm with the staff that his identification was valid, but instead, he says he was asked to leave the premises and, while doing so, says he overheard the officer suggest calling border authorities.
In a statement, the Kenner Police Department said in part, “The body camera footage of the officer from the incident and states the officer never said Border Patrol, ICE, Immigration or anything of that nature. The officer was only there for the disturbance, Hertz employee called police to report a disturbance.”
According to a statement issued by Hertz, the company has since apologized to Marchand and issued him a refund.
The full statement from Hertz read:
“Hertz accepts Puerto Rican driver’s licenses from our customers renting in the U.S. without requiring a valid passport. We sincerely regret that our policy was not followed and have apologized to Mr. Marchand and refunded his rental. We are reinforcing our policies with employees to ensure that they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.”
Officials at the New Orleans International Airport declined to issue a statement regarding the incident.
Kenner PD offered for Marchand to file a complaint and says they will fully investigate.
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