by eXpat » Sun 14 Nov 2010, 16:36:41
TSA keeps creating stories for our amazement, this time TSA agents eject man from airport for opting out of 'groin check':
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')uring the next half-hour, his cell phone recorded Tyner refusing to submit to a full body scan, opting for the traditional metal scanner and a basic "pat down" -- and then refusing to submit to a "groin check" by a TSA security guard.
He even told the guard, "You touch my junk and I'm going to have you arrested."
That threat triggered a code red of sorts as TSA agents, supervisors and eventually the local police gravitated to the spot where the reluctant traveler stood in his stocking feet, his cell phone sitting in the nearby bin (which he wasn't allowed to touch) picking up the audio.
According to TSA when the controversial body scanners were installed, travelers would have the option to request walking through the traditional metal detector it would be accompanied by a "pat down."
Why Tyner was targeted for a secondary pat down is unknown.
"I'm 6-foot-1, white with short brown hair," he said Saturday night. "I don't look like a terrorist."
Was he singled out for "punishment"?
Before Tyner was told he was getting a "groin check," a TSA agent is heard on the recording telling another agent "I had a problem with the passenger I was patting down. So I backed down. He was obnoxious."
Tyner is sure he was talking about someone else. On the whole, with a single final exception, he found the agents "professional if standoffish."
He did marvel that while his own situation was being deliberated, many passengers passed through the metal detector and on to their flights with no pat-down. "One guy even set off the alarm and they sent him through again without a pat-down," he said.
Once he threatened to have the TSA agent arrested though, events turned surreal.
A supervisor is heared re-explaining the groin check process to Tyner then adding "If you're not comfortable with that we can escort you back out and you don't have to fly today."
Tyner responded "OK, I don't understand how a sexual assault can be made a condition of my flying."
"This is not considered a sexual assault," replied the supervisor, calmly.
"It would be if you were not the government," said Tyner.
"By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights," countered the TSA supervisor.
"I think the government took them away after 9/11,' said Tyner.
"OK," came the reply.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/14/tsa-ejects-oceanside-man-airport-refusing-security/http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."
George Bernard Shaw
“You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” Ayn Rand