13 November 2010 TSA encounter at SAN

OFF THE WIRE
13 November 2010More about my TSA encounter at SAN

I've been keeping up with all of the comments, but today has been kind of hectic as you can imagine, and I don't have time to reply to them. Thank you all so much for the encouraging words and offers to help in my legal defense (should it become necessary). I'm starting to see people ask questions about my motives and some of the particulars if the incident. My original post was meant only to serve as an account of what happened should I eventually be sued. Here are some more of the particulars:

Ticket Purchase

I mentioned in my blog post that my father-in-law had purchased my ticket for travel. One commenter called me a spoiled brat for costing him so much money. If you listen to the video, you'll hear that I offered a number of times to "eat the cost" of the ticket and pay him back. In the end, American Airlines stepped up to the plate and made things right on this front.

Treatment of TSA

Some have criticized my treatment of the TSA officer who was going to be performing the pat down. I admit that the language used was not exactly what most would consider "highbrow"; however, it was not intended to be insulting to the officer. I used the word "junk" partly because I was uncomfortable using a more technical term and also as an attempt to introduce some levity to what I knew was about to become a fairly tense situation. I was actually trying to smile almost the entire time, trying to keep the situation from escalating.

"Professional courtesy"

One commenter called out my father-in-law for asking for some professional courtesy from the TSA agents. My father-in-law is one of the most stand-up guys I know. I realize that some (including myself) find it disgusting when LEO's "abuse" their power in this way, and I don't want to excuse it here. But I want to stand up for my father-in-law and say that he is a good, honest man. (I truly considered not posting this video at all because I didn't want him to be viewed in a negative light.) His goal was to get us out of there and off to visit the family and do some hunting. Once he arrived at the final destination, he called to tell me that he was proud that I stood up for what I believed to be right.

Was this a set up?

Some people have questioned whether I entered into this situation intending to set up the TSA. Let me state unequivocally that it was not my intention to set up the TSA. Remember that I checked the TSA's website prior to my departure and confirmed that SAN was not using AIT machines. When I arrived at the screening area and saw that they were using those machines, I recalled various news articles and blog posts advocating that people record these situations so that they are not taken advantage of or have their rights (further) abused. As I stated, I tried to avoid the AIT scanner machine by getting in the metal detector line. I was actually relieved when the person in front of me was pulled out of line. I would have been just fine to walk through the metal detector, delete the video, and be on my way.

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Finally, local news has been alerted. I had one interview already, and another one is scheduled shortly. One local news outlet refused to cover the story. I got the impression from talking to the man on the phone that he thought I was some kind of right-wing or tea party nut job. He sounded a bit apologetic, but I told him, no big deal. Do the story; don't do the story. My feelings aren't hurt either way. I just want the message to get out.

Thank you all again for ALL of the support! I'll keep you posted.