Student Pranked by Philadelphia Airport TSA Worker

[Hissyspit]

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20100123/500976c8-5856-4c88-ad76-c413649502c9

Student pranked by Philadelphia airport TSA worker

From Associated Press
January 24, 2010 1:05 AM EST
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage. The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said.

Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and pulled out the plastic bag, demanding to know where she had gotten the powder.

In the Jan. 10 column for The Michigan Daily, she recounted how she struggled to come up with an explanation, wondering if it was bomb-detonating material slipped in by a terrorist or drugs put there by a smuggler.

"He let me stutter through an explanation for the longest minute of my life," Solomon wrote. "Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him to understand that I'd never seen this baggie before."

A short time later, she said, the worker smiled and said it was his.

MORE

[Initech]

1. I would sue the shit out of the TSA if they tried that on me

[taterguy]

7. For what?

The only way you'd collect money is if you incurred massive therapy bills and/or could no longer function.

Are you that fragile?

[alfredo]

11. Facing the prospect of spending much of your life in prison for something

you didn't do is enough to traumatize a person, fragile or not. If she doesn't have PTSD from that, she'd be considered as fortunate. I've heard of young person being driven over the edge by an act of kindness because it reminded them of what they had been denied their whole lives.

[taterguy]

12. You might have a point if the incident lasted longer than a couple minutes

[alfredo]

13. Imagine the terror she experienced.

It doesn't take much to mess a person up. Her experience is as life threatening as what I experienced. She will replay that incident over and over in her mind for the rest of her life. Her life has been altered in a negative way by a cruel little man. He had no business doing what he did to that innocent young woman.

I am a PTSD sufferer. I know the price she will have to pay for the horror he imposed on her.

[Hekate]

16. How about if I hold you out a 50-story window by the ankles? It would only be a couple of minutes.

In this and the other thread you seem very intent on minimizing the incident and its impact on this young woman.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but TSA agents have a lot of power. They can pull you aside on a whim and take your luggage apart while they make you stand with your arms stretched out, demanding a life history. They can detain you. They can arrest you without warrant. They can prevent you from leaving the airport, either to get on an airplane or to go back out the door the way you came in. They can call the cops or they can simply keep you in a locked room for as long as they feel like it. They can refuse to let you make a phone call. They can interrogate you on matters having nothing to do with airline security, and in all of this you are not entitled to a lawyer, and if you refuse to cooperate, you are presumed to have something to hide.

There have been many documented cases of this egregious behavior. I have not heard of anyone getting any satisfaction from TSA -- in fact this is the first case I have heard of an employee being disciplined, much less fired.

Since Bush's admin. first put TSA in place, its powers have grown unchecked, not so much by statute as by the fact that they simply do it, and claim they can, and get away with it every time.

The TSA rank and file personnel are minimally-trained, ill-paid, non-civil service employees -- and it's clear that many of them are not the brightest bulb in the pack. They rifle through your checked bags and if something goes missing, it's never them. They are given uniforms and power.

And one of these brilliant defenders of The Homeland gave every indication of trying to frame this poor girl for a heinous crime -- drug smuggling or a terrorist attack. She had the wit to see it for what it was, and it justifiably terrified her.

Then the jerk laughed at her.

Hekate

http://www.papersplease.org/wp/2009/04/20/tsa-claims-new-powers-of-detention-search-and-interrogation/

[Initech]

14. This.

Why should I face life in prison because some fucking asshole planted a bag of "white powder" in my luggage? It's basic bullying taken to a whole new extreme.

[rsmith6621]

2. It Is So Hard To Take Security at The Airport Serious

....and this only comfirms why........ I travel weekly and have seen screeners texting and not looking at the monitor at what is coming through....

[Hekate]

3. KnR. Appalling. nt

[TheWatcher]

4. THIS is the TSA, folks. THIS is an example of the thugs they hire to "keep you safe."

And if you think this is juts an example of a "bad apple", think again.

Is THIS the country you want to live in?

You are being played for FOOLS.

WAKE UP.

[Obamanaut]

8. Is this the same group of thugs that I read here on DU we should unionize? nt

[TheWatcher]

15. That's a great idea!

Let's UNIONIZE The Police State!

Then Terror Inc. will be COMPLETE!

[Stinky The Clown]

5. TSA needs to go away.

Their only purpose is to keep up the charade and keep us docile for the day when the TSA people will change from moronic tools to agents of malevolence.

[Obamanaut]

6. The TSA worker is now unemployed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7555148

[snagglepuss]

9. I hope that the worker is charged. But I have got to wonder at

TSA's hiring process. How can someone with so few brain cells get hired? That said at least this illustrates the glaring holes in the system. It's shocking how easy it was for the agent to plant the material in the luggage undetected.

[sam sarrha]

10. sue that rat bastards ass off.. take everything except his underwear...!!

[rufus dog]

17. I was flying out of San Antonio one morning

My late flight was cancelled the night before and had to take a flight out first thing. The New Orleans Hornets were playing the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs and as it happened, a critical game was the night before in San Antonio. I had used the airline numerous times and they had a kiosk for rapid check in. The SA airport has a bag drop right by the kiosk and as I walked up a TSA guy said "go stand in line." I told him I only had carry on and was going to the kiosk and he responded that is was broke and I needed to stand in line. I went back to the line then noticed people using the kiosk so I walked up and he tried to stop me and I told him "I am not responding to you" and got my ticket.

He left his position and followed me to security and pointed me out. As I got closer I noticed most males were getting patted down and having their luggage checked. Then I noticed that most of them were wearing Hornets hats or shirts. So they pull all my shit apart, pat me down, and the TSA weenie is standing back about 20 yards, smirking, standing with his boss who is also smirking.

After getting through I start walking their way and they scatter back to the ticketing area. I walk up to another TSA guy and tell him, 'I fly here every week, and I might have to drive back to CA, but if those two assholes ever look at me again I will go to the newspapers and ask them how is our Country more secure when asshole TSA agents are messing with people based upon a sporting event and they aren't even smart enough to realize that all the people in line aren't from New Orleans.'

Lesson is, some of the security is required, but their are a lot of assholes out there.