Take a look at this YouTube video of an incident at my home airport of Burbank:
The narrator, who sounds like the lawyer for the woman, tells a convincing story. What say you?
Some more context:
An incident at Bob Hope Airport in which a woman is accused of hitting a federal security agent who allegedly tried to wrest away her 93-year-old mother’s snacks before a flight was caught on tape.
Prosecutors charged Nadine Kay Hays, 58, who was traveling to Nashville with her mother, with misdemeanor battery after the reported fight with the Transportation Security Administration agent last April…
Nadine Kay Hays was charged with misdemeanor battery after the alleged fight with a Transportation Security Administration agent last April. The agent claimed Hays made a fist and struck her on the hand during the tussle.
Hayes denies striking the agent and says she brought down her hand to keep her from taking away her 93-year-old mother’s applesauce, cheese and milk, which were inside a cooler.
The two were traveling to a wedding in Nashville, and Hays says she e-mailed TSA ahead of time about the extra baggage…
My thoughts:
TSA rules permit medically necessary items. She should never have been hassled in the first place and the lackadaisical demeanor of the TSA in the video above discounts the argument that her act of grabbing the arm of a TSA agent constitutes battery.
I fly through Terminal B at Burbank at least twice a month and have become familiar with many of the TSA employees at Burbank. They seem to be better than most and also are more senior in age. You would think they would be more empathetic to the medical needs of a senior citizen.
Perhaps the daughter of this woman should have purchased smaller containers of food in order to spare her poor mother any possible hold-up, but the rules say she did not have to.
This is yet another example of incompetence from the TSA that cannot be excused. They don’t even know their own rules…
I have worked security and am sorry to say most of my fellow co workers are idiots who couldn’t get a real job. They have personality disorders and seek attention. They let the little bit of power they are given go straight to their heads and enjoy being the bully. I couldn’t wait to get out of the security business and the airprt security is the worst. I have seent he biggest mistakes made and the guards lie to cover their inappropriate actions. I have seen our police officers do the same thing. It is disheartening and I couldn’t wait to get out of the business. Thank goodness my kids are older now and i no longer have to settle for a graveyard shift (all i was qualified to do between 10PM and 6AM was grave security) so I can see them off to school each day and kiss them goodnight each evening before heading to a lousy 9$ an hr job. The people in security are not qualified to have the authority they are givin and when they make mistakes they are seldom repromanded which teaches them to continue with their bully behavior and ego feeding. I hope the security officers in this vide are repremended and i hope the reporting officer is too for falsifying a report about having ot break up a fught!! Disgusting!! The whole video is just disgusting!! When do the citizens have rights?
Remember what Tom Daschle (D SD) said. “Federalized means professionalised!”
Daschle was a damn liar.
As a 39 year police officer(and not a Burbank Airport officer) I find the narrator’s version doesn’t jive with the video. He sounds more like a spin doctor. The Burbank Airport police appear to handle the situation correctly from the video.
It is obvious from the video that the food in the cooler was disproportionate to what might be needed for the flight and the “soda” Nadine takes a drink of was not “medically necessary” for her mother. I also don’t buy the narrators comments about the off camera activities. He doesn’t have a view of those activities and seems to make up a story to fill the video gap. Also the 93 year old mother doesn’t show any signs of distress, aggitation, or other issues either before she is wheeled off camera or afterwards.
Me thinks Nadine is a B**ch who was improperly bringing prohibited items through the checkpoint, got caught, and made a scene. Lots of drama and probably using mom as a cover story.
If you think it is bad now, wait until they have a union formed. They will be untouchable. No repremands will ever happen and the imbeciles like the supervisor, will continue to be allowed to harass citizens at their leisure.
Has TSA gone from “Thousands Standing Around ” to ” Touches Sensitive Areas” ” or worse yet”Total Sexual Assault”? The TSA folks in the picture might qualify for a “filing a false police report” charge.
Quo warranto, B.O.?
It’s like watching a sane person try to deal with insane people, but the insane people have the power to have the sane person arrested. I guess the nuts really are in charge of the asylum now.
This is absolutely absurd. Even watching the video in silent mode shows you all you need to know that the ticket holders did absolutely nothing illegal or even remotely wrong. It shows absolutely disregard for humanity in the way the mother and daughter were treated, and it shows that the TSA workers were never remotely in danger, but were actually laughing it up at people who did nothing wrong and were in distress.
It really sickens me to see TSA employees act like this, because I’ve always been a supporter of security measures in the past. The bottom line is Big Brother and Big Sister have their houses way out of order, and their victims are getting sick and tired of paying to be abused.
I hope these women sue for a ton and win!
We’ve got a lot more coverage of the TSA on this blog.
Check out some of it here:
http://upgrd.com/tag/tsa.html
Naturally this incident will be written up as an example of the TSA preventing an act of terrorism. As far as the “Smokey” in the comments above saying the officers “handle[d] the situation correctly” goes, I’d have to respond by saying that nothing about this appears to have been correctly handled by me, and it is exactly this kind of mentality that American citizens should have to justify the size of their applesauce containers to uniformed thugs that is destroying the once free USA. If the TSA really wants to be effective then they need someone available at these checkpoints who can apply some common sense, someone who actually understood the TSA rules, and was willing to calmly and rationally discuss the issue with the distraught woman. Instead we get an army of giggling uniforms who see it as one of the perks of their job to railroad someone. I can only hope that there is enough sense left in the world that the jury will not convict this woman.
Forget the medical nonsense. The main problem here is that the TSA and Airport Police are apparently a bunch of liars.
For one thing, the un-Godly amount of time it took these hillbillies to get through security was agonizing. It appears they packed the whole trailer up for the big airplane ride. I’m surprised their bloodhound wasn’t along for the trip.
Smokey, who in the hell cares who or what you are. You make stuff up and you do not even know what went on. Only what you see on camera. I would hate to live where you are a so called cop. You say me thinks she is a B**ch. You mean you can think?
TSA should employ registered nurses trained to scan / frisk people.
Not only would they act professionally but they would understand medical issues and exhibit compassion instead of contempt for people.
Smokey, you need to quit your job and do some soul searching. Having a calloused attitude is NOT admirable.
I want to try to be fair to the TSA agents. We have tens of thousands of passengers passing through security each day and there are bound to be “odd ball” situations occasionally that require judgment. But this incident shows they don’t even know their own rules and their cavalier and supercilious attitude when dealing with people who are already stressed out, just contributes to problems. There are several points on this tape where the conflict could have been defused but instead the TSA agents contribute to its escalation.
Anyone who travels by air can attest that the agents at most security gates do not act in a professional manner. There is too much yelling back and forth, too much joking, etc. This often only exacerbates the irritation everyone feels about the flying experience these days. I should also say, this seems to be more a phenomenon of American airports. As a frequent international traveler, I have seen that the demeanor of security staff seems to vary considerably from country to country, probably a function of the kinds of training each country provides to or insists from its personnel. American staff seem to be the most unprofessional, the British seem to be the most polite and professional, the Germans seem the most supercilious and in the Caribbean you have to wonder if the the security staff aren’t smuggling drugs or on them!
What a bunch of nazi goons
I find I completely disagree with “Smokey” (above). His personal spin reflects his bias as much as I’m sure my bias affects mine.
On a separate topic, I think they definitely need more cameras. It should not be possible for the agents to step off camera and not possible to move a wheelchair bound person off camera.
While I’d certainly be willing to listen to “the other side”, if I was presented only with this video and the narration as my basis, I’d award lots of money to the lady and her mother and mandate that TSA rectify the “blind spots” and train staff NOT to do this. Period.
While I probably (!) would not dismiss the agents I’d also require them to personally (verbally) and also in writing, to apologize for their behavior.
welcome to the new world, comrades!! you must obey all government workers! you are only allowed to breathe and you must not do anything else. we will take your property and if we want, your life and you have no say. LONG LIVE HUSSIEN OBAMA!
YOU WANT TO STOP THIS CRAP? STOP FLYING ON ANY AIRLINE!!! DO NOT FLY, DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER!!! STAY HOME!
I think it is wise to consider that the video we have seen here is jaundiced by its accompanying narration. The narration effectively changes the events with conjecture after conjecture. For example, the narration claimed the smiling agent was smiling because she anticipated the row that was about to ensue. But with no sound it is impossible to tell why the agent smiled. In these sorts of work conditions comments among co-workers often take place constantly, in rapid-fire manner, and they often concern jokes shouted across to one another and inside information to which bystanders are not privy. It is possible that the agent was smiling because of such comments and not because of anything having to do with the immediate circumstances of the 93 year-old grandmother. My point is that we are missing critical information here, and the narrator does not help supply it. Indeed, the unobjective tone of the narration causes me to doubt whether what the narrator wants me to believe is in fact the truth.
I have ten years of training as a careful, skeptical observer. I watched the video with the sound off. The woman who tussled with screeners over the cooler was clearly out of line. She appeared to strike someone at one point, but the camera’s view of the impact, if there was any, was blocked by another person.
Improper behavior at the security checkpoint: definitely. An arrestable offense: possibly.
Why didn’t any of the other travelers step in on behalf of their fellow traveler? I actually saw a man, a traveler, who was laughing about it! I hope for a day where a scene like this will incite a mob attack on the agents. Americans, read your history (1930’s Germany) and take a stand for your fellow Americans, while you can.
LOL at the Narrator – what a joke. I feel bad for the woman in red.
If you want all this TSA stuff to go away, stop fling for a week. At the end of that week with no one flying, TSA goes away. They only get away with it because they know that most people are like sheep. No Guts. Little know fact. Only 30% of the colonist participated in the American Revolution. I don’t think the numbers have improved.
Smokey you are a idiot. Just the mannerism of the shallow end of the gene pool agents speaks volumes. Anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence would be able to realize there is no threat here, just a power play by these moron’s who would be more suited to working at wal-mart or back on welfare, where they would do less damage. 39 years in law enforcement and you see nothing wrong here. I am amazed with your ignorance and anti-citizen opinions. I doubt you are much of a cop,with those fine tuned detective skills of yours I would guess not even another 39years will get you promotion dumbass. There is no terror threat, So send her to jail for in your opinion”trying to bring more food than needed for a 93yo passenger.” Smarten Up you DUMBASS!!
Gezz, Give the TSA workers a break. They’re only doing the work Americans won’t do.
We’re forgetting one basic thing here. TSA is not about security or airline safety. It’s about control. If you don’t know that, you don’t know what’s really going on.
@smokey (the cop) – you don’t make any mention of the falsified charge of battery of the TSA agent, but of course you don’t … you’re a cop. Are you embarrassed about being so blindly supportive of any sort of thuggish authority figure? Of course you’re not … you’re a cop.
Smokey, did you say, “me thinks?” “me thinks?”
A veteran of 39 years on “the police force,” Mr.”me thinks?” Smokey?
If we were facing the other direction, would you be pulling the other leg? “me thinks?”
Come to the 21st century, (pot) “Smoker”
A RECALL ELECTION for any prosecutor who files charges and for any judge who permits TSA victims to be prosecuted in his or her court is the proper way to deal with this. The judiciary and the 4th Amendment are supposed to PROTECT the people from TSA slime, not aid and abet them. Remember, TSA perps are NOT law enforcement officers and have no rights at all.
Wow, Smokey. At what point in your 39 year career did you conclude that female members of the traveling public are probably lying b*iatces intent only on getting “illegal” snacks on airplanes? Either attitude adjustment or retirement or both would seem worthy of your consideration. The public is not your enemy. 93 year old grannies should be entitled to bring whatever they damn well want to eat (or are able to eat) on board airplanes, buses and trains, despite the hysteric paranoia to which you evidently subscribe.
Fck you Smokey, fck you Esteban, and f*ck the TSA. Get the hell out of the land of the free.
I have traveled to different countries around the world, many of those in “third world” where you would expect it necessary for more security. Actually not… The TSA in the US is among the most aggressive I have come across. The security in other countries appears to be based more on logic then on assuming that everyone is guilty and there is no such thing as common sense as we have in the US. Other countries focus more on behavior and profiling, take a more sensible approach to searching passengers. Then again the TSA doesn’t yet have guards with machine guns at the gates.
Fourth president of the United States James Madison said, “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” What would Madison think of the TSA’s fight against terrorism?
A little respect from TSA employees would go a long way toward diffusing problems. Instead, they seem to relish inciting trouble. For another viewpoint see http://adverbsandstir.com/2011/01/04/the-tsa-wears-blue-latex/
I saw the video and i felt pity in that lady arguing with the security to allow her to carry the eatables for her 93 year old mother. and shame of them who were laughimg on her ,no one from the other passengers uttered a word on behalf of that lady or to help her out cant TSA be flexible enough to change their rules in some special cases!!!!