Sunday, November 14, 2010

'If You Touch My Junk': Man Ejected From San Diego Airport for Refusing Security Check

I didn't even think about this when I traveled to New York for September 11th. The only incident I had at John Wayne airport was when I didn't empty the change out of my pockets. The guy kept making me go though the metal scanner. I was a little embarrassed by it actually, but once through I let it go. No doubt a full body scan would be just a bit more humiliating, although I hadn't even considered it, and wasn't sure how many airports perform those searches. And that's not all? How 'bout airport security copping a feel up my groin? That's a bit much. I read John Tyner's piece this morning: "TSA Encounter at SAN." At the second video linked, at 3:43 minutes, Tyner tells the TSA officer, "If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested."

Plus, from San Diego Union-Tribune:
John Tyner won't be pheasant hunting in South Dakota with his father-in-law any time soon.

Tyner was simultaneously thrown out of San Diego International Airport on Saturday morning for refusing to submit to a security check and threatened with a civil suit and $10,000 fine if he left.

And he got the whole thing on his cell phone. Well, the audio at least.

The 31-year-old Oceanside software programmer was supposed to leave from Lindbergh Field on Saturday morning and until a TSA agent directed him toward one of the recently installed full-body scanners, Tyner seemed to be on his way.

Tyner balked.

He'd been reading about the scanners and didn't like them for a number of reasons, ranging from health concerns to "a huge invasion of privacy." He'd even checked the TSA website which indicated that San Diego did not have the machines, he said in a phone interview Saturday night.

"I was surprised to see them," said Tyner.

He also did something that may seem odd to some, manipulative to others but fortuitous to plenty of others for whom Tyner is becoming something of a folk hero: Tyner turned on his cell phone's video camera and placed it atop the luggage he sent through the x-ray machine.

He may not be the first traveler tossed from an airport for security reasons but he could well be the first to have the whole experience captured on his cell phone.
RTWT.

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