Good grief where will this nonsense end…. via Boing Boing….
“I demanded to speak to a TSA [Transportation Security Administration] supervisor who asked me if the water in the sippy cup was ‘nursery water or other bottled water.’ I explained that the sippy cup water was filtered tap water. The sippy cup was seized as my son was pointing and crying for his cup. I asked if I could drink the water to get the cup back, and was advised that I would have to leave security and come back through with an empty cup in order to retain the cup. As I was escorted out of security by TSA and a police officer, I unscrewed the cup to drink the water, which accidentally spilled because I was so upset with the situation.
“At this point, I was detained against my will by the police officer and threatened to be arrested for endangering other passengers with the spilled 3 to 4 ounces of water. I was ordered to clean the water, so I got on my hands and knees while my son sat in his stroller with no shoes on since they were also screened and I had no time to put them back on his feet. I asked to call back my fiancé, who I could still see from afar, waiting for us to clear security, to watch my son while I was being detained, and the officer threatened to arrest me if I moved. So I yelled past security to get the attention of my fiancé.
“I was ordered to apologize for the spilled water, and again threatened with arrest. I was threatened several times with arrest while detained, and while three other police officers were called to the scene of the mother with the 19 month old. A total of four police officers and three TSA officers reported to the scene where I was being held against my will. I was also told that I should not disrespect the officer and could be arrested for this too. I apologized to the officer and she continued to detain me despite me telling her that I would miss my flight. The officer advised me that I should have thought about this before I ‘intentionally spilled the water!'”
Monica said that the incident ended this way: “I missed my flight, needless to say after being detained for over 40 minutes. After the officer was done humiliating me, I was advised that I could go through the security check point in an attempt to catch my flight. The officer insisted that my son and I be rescreened despite us both being detained and under her control the entire time.”
UPDATE:
Note to commentors: IT’S A SIPPY CUP, people. America doesn’t need to be afraid of sippy cups and water bottles, ok? So she got mad and argued, big deal, I would too. I find it insane that we have to more afraid of mothers and toddlers in this country with water bottles and sippy cups than we are of giving up our freedom of movement and travel in our own country. It’s absurd.
21 Responses
Really! Sippy cups, tennis shoes? Cripes.
(sigh)
[…] Donna Woodka. This entry was written by whig and posted on June 15, 2007 at 11:46 am and filed under Inquiry, […]
TSA has posted the surveillance video footage and incident report to http://www.tsa.gov . Check it out!
Can she sue? If she can, she should. This is just getting outrageous. Some of these TSA folk so enjoy having control over people that it is a crime.
http://www.tsa.gov/approach/mythbusters
do some research first. the lady is psycho and her story is bullshit.
I just find it amusing that TSA finds water bottles and sippy cups threatening at all. I was searched for traveling on a one-way ticket when my mom died and I didn’t know when I would be coming home. It’s just all so stupid – annoying at best, and doesn’t make us any safer at all.
assume that commenter above uses “psycho” to describe someone who responds to bizarre “official” behavior in airports. guess that’s me– old lady who sighs every time she has to take off shoes/put them back on/remember that this is sposed to make me feel safer.
1) The video shows the woman walked out by ONE TSA person than the TSA person LEAVES.
2) The video shows the woman pouring the water onto the floor and shaking the sippy cup.
3) The video shows the woman turn around and try to enter through the exit only lane.
4) The video shows ONE female police officer stop her.
5) The video shows the woman take her child (for what reason) out of the stroller.
6) The video shows a second police officer arrive on bike.
7) The video shows the woman cleaning up the water she spilled.
8) Also after just alittle over 11 minutes the woman is DONE with the ordeal (not the 45 minutes of being detained)
9) The report states that she went back though security a second time and allowed to fly.
TSA is NOT the sole and primary people responsible for this occuring. SHE argued with the police.
I’ve seen people banned from flying that day because they talked back to the poilce at the airport.
Nikki, do you think people who “talk back” to police should be banned from flying?
I was blown away by the guy who kept pointing to more spots of water for her to clean up; a little power trip there, perhaps??
I mean, where is the humanity in this story? Do any of these people realize how flustered this woman must have been, especially with her toddler crying. It does appear in the video that she pours the water out–but did it merit this overblown reaction?
After watching the video, it sounds like this lady thinks she is above reproach. Who does she think she is? Do you think terrorist don’t use everyday ordinary people to try and further their cause? The USA can not afford to “overlook” anything. We have lost our innocence, and now have to pay the price. It’s not fun, but we have no other alternative. Since she is a former SS employee, she should be happy that the airport security was doing their job!
Sure, because of course the terrorists are going to talk back to the police, right? No, the terrorists are going to be all nice and polite so they can get where they want to be. They wouldn’t create a scene. Except perhaps as a distraction so that the real terrorists could sneak on by while the security people are distracted.
At least we are safe from the water bottles and sippy cups, though.
this happened to me the last cruise i went on. coming back from a caribbean country to America, i was asked to put my belongings on the belt, shoes and anything else they could think of. i use a scooter to travel. altho they could take the scooter around the belt and let me walk thru (which would be eminently faster) i was told i had to go around and thru the gate with my scooter. then i hv to stand (which is hard for me) go thru the touching up and down and also with the wand. it seemed to take longer than any other screening, and at last she found a poland springs water bottle in my purse and took it. on and on and on, until i looked up and saw 4-6 people grading her (guess she was new) and telling her to go back and do things over and over. needless to say, i’m not traveling anytime soon. i’m 74 yrs old and just cannot be put thru this again.
another couple and me and hubby travel on cruises 3-4x/yr. no more.!
I think people are forgetting why these rules are in place. There are people that want to hurt us in our own country! I think Ms. Emmorson’s attitude sucks and everyone needs to think about the security inconvience while our troops are out there being really inconvienced!
And I think she should have cleaned up that water and I am glad they pointed at other spots. First off, think about how waxy those floors are? One spill can send you flying. I worked at a grocery store growing up, and wet floor spills had us in court more then theft!
Monica get over it! No sympathy here!
Oh, my I guess those sippy cups and water spills are truly terrifying to some people.
I’ll take my risk of being hurt over giving up my right to travel freely in my own country, thank you. I take that risk in my car pretty much every day, since we’re all more likely to be in a car accident than a terrorist attack.
And I agree about the troops. They should never have been stuck in Iraq – which didn’t attack us, by the way.
I don’t care if you have sympathy for Monica or not. I do care about the stupidity of harassing travelers over water bottles and sippy cups, and makeup. These aren’t “threats”, they are simply assinine attempts to make us feel “safe” while really doing nothing.
Checked your ports lately? Know how much cargo gets through unchecked? Did you know there are people stealing over $6 billion a year in goods from unsecured ports?
Don’t try to tell me this idiocy is making us any safer – please.
I agree with Donna.
I have actually wondered at times what the total cost of absolute port security would be compared to the hundreds of billions being wasted on “wars”.
And this begs the question of wasted human lives.
“# whig Says:
June 16th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Nikki, do you think people who “talk back” to police should be banned from flying?”
If anything, her completely out-of-control, I’m-better-than-everyone-here attitude should have alerted the police that she was not a terrorist. It’s fairly apparent from her childish behavior that she’s an over-privileged American WASP who thinks the world revolves around her. Damn TSA… figure it out! The terrorists don’t act like this jerk did.
How do you know she wasnt a diversion for the real terrorists? Big distractions let others get through. Plus though she’s ex Fed, who knows where her loyalty lies, just cuz she’s exFed doesnt mean anything. She of all people should know and be concerned about our National Security. Doesnt anyone remember the liquid bombs from last year disguised as shampoos, water and lotions? What about Richard Reid the shoe bomber? Its people like that, that make TSA and other federal, national and state law enforcements worry about the general publics safety. Its people like that make it harder for everyone, but if they didnt screen everyone, how would they know the next person in line isn’t the next bomber? If everyone was able to go into the airport without screening?!? I dont want to think what would become of our country, I really dont want to. Oh and we dont want to forget what recently almost happened at JFK.
along with Nikki’s comment… its the airlines decision to have travelers banned from flying.
Well, Lu, I can’t stand what HAS become of our country, with people being so afraid and misinformed. There were no bombs made from lotions – it was an idea they had that wouldn’t have worked anyway. There was no incident at JFK, because their plan was unworkable. Although in 2000 at JFK, we were stuck in the airport overnight with next to no security and could have done whatever we wanted. I am glad things have improved since then.
Honestly, if you are terrified of sippy cups, I sincerely hope you never have kids.