The rest of the TSA story

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Excerpted from today's Washington Post:

"Emmerson is seen being escorted out of the security checkpoint area by a screener. It then appears that she intentionally dumps water out of the sippy cup onto the floor and tries to slip back through security without going through the screening process, drawing the attention of a police officer."
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More:

"They posted video clips taken by a security camera, along with an incident report that they believe rebuts Emmerson's allegations, on a portion of the TSA Web site called MythBusters.

TSA officials said they felt obligated to respond because their screeners were not at fault. "As this incident illustrates, these officers display professionalism and concern for all passengers," TSA officials wrote in a statement.

The video is clear on some points but not on others. Emmerson is seen being escorted out of the security checkpoint area by a screener. It then appears that she intentionally dumps water out of the sippy cup onto the floor and tries to slip back through security without going through the screening process, drawing the attention of a police officer.

She talks to the officer as she digs around in her son's stroller, apparently for her identification. The officer's supervisor arrives, and then Emmerson's fiance appears. Within a few minutes, Emmerson is on her hands and knees, drying up the puddle with a handful of paper towels. A TSA screener nearby makes sure nobody slips on the water and takes Emmerson's wet paper towels.

In the incident report, a TSA officer wrote that before Emmerson was escorted out of the checkpoint area, she flashed her "Secret Service badge and credentials and said she should be exempt from all this and this was a stupid policy."

Secret Service officials declined comment on Emmerson's employment status.

Tara Hamilton, an airport spokeswoman, said the first officer on the scene acted appropriately and responded only because she thought Emmerson was trying to cut back through security after dumping the water."
 
I did not see the passenger dumping out any water, but sadly the TSA folks and other were in the way. Oddly, none of the supposed authorities nor any of the following passengers seemed to have any issue with walking through any water that may have been present on the floor. :scrutiny:

Maybe I'm just weird, but I do NOT blindly walk through puddles of unknown liquids. When I see it, I go around or step over. 6 or 7 ounces of water makes a fair sized puddle, and WILL splash if dumped from the elevation that the passenger is alleged to have dumped the water. Why did the TSA not get upset about being splashed, or any spash on the glass partition seen in the video?

The TSA report strikes me as strongly akin to that which comes from cattle and is used to foster the growth of plants.
 
It's interesting. This case is about a Secret Service agent who thinks she is exempt from "silly" rules. The soldier incident was about a soldier who "doesn't like being told I'm wrong when I believe I'm right." In that story, we only heard one side, the soldier's. That video was not at all clear about what was said or done. That's why I withheld comment on both stories--not enough objective information. Still doing so.

I don't like the TSA and the security, but that doesn't mean every confrontation is abuse of power.

K
 
And before 9-11 someone - none of the 5 will admit to it - I went fishing with put a fillet knife with a 6-inch blade in my bag and I carried it back from Costa Rica to Miami to National. I didn't find it until I unpacked. The knife belonged to my buddy the lawyer so I blame him.

I'm sort of sorry to see the woman's story falling apart - it was fodder for some good rants.

John
 
Jarholder, apparently you don't like kittens and small children. Would you like to see them wiped out by the evil terrists?
 
Some things I find interesting...

Apparently there is no dispute that water ended up on the floor. The dispute seems to be in how it got there. The passenger is claiming it got there accidently as she opened the cup to drink the water to get rid of it. The TSA maintains she opened the cup and deliberately dumped the water out.

In an interview I just saw, the woman stated that the TSA response was a blatent abuse of police powers. I find that hilarious in that she attempted to use her own polic powers to circumvent a rule because it was inconvenient in her personal life.

In this incident, regardless of who was at fault, the fact she was or is (SS not commenting at this time) a secret service agent of some type should never have come up. She was obviously not on the job since she had her child with her. I'm thinking the presence of a sippy cup negates any additional powers you might percieve yourself as having due to the presence of a badge and some government credentials.

migoi
 
The TSA is out of control...

They demean people so that we can be safe while flying, when NONE of their antics would have prevented 9/11. We are having to PROVE our innocence everytime we fly, or if not our innocence, then our inability. The Government looks at all of us as if we are criminals / inmates that need to have their bunks searched for contraband.....
 
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