Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist. His brother, 29, is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria with their families, and both were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Kashif Irfan’s sister-in-law, a friend and Kashif Irfan’s three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2.

Wow, married professionals, born in the US, serving the legal system and helping sick people. You just couldn’t find a bunch of more respectable-looking and sympathetic-sounding plaintiffs if you planned the whole thing from the beginning, could you?