CCTV debunks hysterical blogger who claimed the TSA ‘took’ her son
Horror stories about airport security are so commonplace they’re not even worth sharing. Everyone’s met an angry TSA agent who snarls when she unearths a forgotten five-ounce bottle of saline solution from deep within your carry-on. But even when they’re complete cocksuckers, the screeners are just doing their jobs. The absurd restrictions aren’t of their design.
Sometimes, though, the screeners go too far. At least according to this woman, whose son’s pacifier prompted an additional patdown:
My worst nightmare took place yesterday. Worse than events that have taken place and that I have survived in my short 28 years of living. Worse than my wildest of dreams could conjure.
My son was taken from me.
Taken.
My son was taken from me by the TSA agents at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport yesterday. [emphasis HERS!]
He was taken away from me and OUT OF MY SIGHT because his pacifier clip went off when I carried him through the metal detector…The female agent then called an older gentleman, also a TSA agent over. The male TSA agent stood in front of me and said “I’m going to have to pat down your son.”With Jackson still sitting in my lap (he was being so good despite all of this chaos) I said ok and continued to hold on to my son, expecting the male TSA agent to start touching Jackson.
He then told me, “I’m going to have to pick him up to inspect him.”..
I handed him my son.I handed him my son and he walked away with my child. [again: emphasis HERS]
My eyes welled up with tears, I stood up from my chair and I asked the female TSA agent, “Where is he going? Where is he taking my child? Why is he leaving?”
Jackson, while being whisked away looked at the male TSA agent awkwardly and repeated “no no no no.”
I started crying.
The female TSA agent did not answer me.
Panic set in. My hands began to shake. My body was sweating. My breath was short and my heart was racing.
They had taken my child and not told me.
Jackson was out of my eye sight.
I could not see my son…
Sounds terrible, right? A parent’s worst nightmare?
Problem is, none of this happened. On its official blog, the TSA has posted the raw video footage of the incident — from the moment mother and son enter the screening area to the incident’s quite unremarkable conclusion. (I’ve posted one chunk below). At no time is the child further than two feet away from his mom. And when he is that far away, he’s sitting in his stroller — where she placed him — chewing on his toes.
And yet, this woman wigs the fuck out:
Now I was pissed.
Horrified. Terrified. Enraged.
“You fucking get the authorities,” I told the female TSA agent while the other continued to wand me and forced me to unbutton my jeans because the button beeped when she went over my abdomen with her wand.
“You get the goddamn authorities right the fuck now and tell them to GIVE ME MY SON,” I said.
I began to black out. I knew I was having a full on panic attack. I feared passing out…
I hung up and called my mother.
“Jackson’s gone,” I remember telling her. I do not remember what she said in return, but she instantly could tell I was having a panic attack. She began breathing with me on the phone in an attempt to calm me down.
To hear her tell it, the boy was taken into a backroom and subjected to a cavity search:
Finally the male TSA agent who took Jackson brought him back.
Jackson was in my sight and immediately started yelling, “Mommy!”
I was hysterical.
Running to my son and grabbing him from the male TSA agent’s arms, I sobbed and yelled obscenities at every single TSA agent who stood guard at the end of the conveyor belts.
Again: None of this happened. The entire time his mother is being screened with the wand, the boy is in his stroller.
These incidents make me more sympathetic toward TSA personnel. Yeah, I know — they can be real shitheels sometimes. A bad pass through security makes lunch hour at DMV sound like a picnic. But in my experience, it’s the passengers who make the process more painful — and this awful woman’s bullshit just furthers than conviction.
via tsa agents took my son @ My Bottle’s Up.
Response to “TSA Agents Took My Son” | TSA blog.
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Bloggers shouldn’t lie. TSA agents don’t have to be such assholes. There’s no need for husbands to freak out because you accidentally put your giant hair gel in the carry-on instead of the checked bag. (Whoops. How did that last one get in there?). There’s a whole lot of wrong going on here but somehow I still think the screeners are, in general, giant jerks.
Yes, they are just enforcing the rules but there’s no requirement that they be total jags. I will revise my opinion the next time a 6-year-old setting off the alarm with his Disney pins really does turn out to be a terrorist.
This whole thing is just so curious. She has enough to rant about without MAKING SHIT UP. She has, like, a 6+ minute interaction with airport security. That’s a REALLY long time. She’s wanded, like, three times. Why? What set all this off?
I went to the woman’s blog. It’s anonymous, and there’s no way to leave comments. There’s a little bio; it says a) she gave up the (wine) bottle when she had the baby; b) she’s a military wife; c) she’s 28. It’s all so fucking psychotic and brilliantly fascinating.
The skeptic in me needs to ask what proof is there that the video is from the incident? For all we know the TSA just submitted a fake video in an effort to discredit the woman.
I went to this woman’s blog too. This is probably the most telling passage from her “TSA nightmare”-post:
“I had an emergency Xanax in my jeans pocket. I always carry an emergency Xanax in my pocket. The result of severe anxiety.”
Who the hell always carries an emergency Xanax in their jeans pocket???
She’s a blogger who had an anxiety attack because she didn’t have anything to write about that week.
I’m not a big fan of our every move being tracked by CCTV, but this is one instance where it probably saved someone’s job. She should be ashamed.
Wow. This thing was HUGE on Reddit and people commenting were infuriated with the TSA (I said the lady overreacted and was just having a panic attack). Glad to see the truth surface.
If there is one thing I usually disagree with, its the Federal government infringing on my rights, and treating EVERYONE like some sort of a terrorist. Most people at the TSA are just doing their job, some slack, some are extremely pompous and use their so called “power of authority” to mistreat others. Personally I cant stand the TSA, but I know why they are there, and I will obey them because more often then not, they have secured air travel in the single area that airlines simply couldnt..security screening!
Ive passed TSA many times with pepper spray before being caught. I honestly forgot I had it on my keys cause its just so “normal” for me and so trivial a thing to protect myself. When it was found, and I was reprimanded, at no point did I feel scared, threatened, or feel that any civil rights were broken. It was simply the TSA keeping EVERYONE as well as myself safe.
This woman clearly lied, and really while I dislike the TSA, I am on their side..and glad that they conducted themselves in a very professional manner in the video. Kudos for lying! It only shows us how the TSA is keeping us safer, even if we dont like them.
I smelled bullshit the first time I read this woman’s story a couple days ago. Something about it seemed off, and like someone else already commented, who carries an “emergency xanax” around, just in case they feel themselves slipping off the deep end? She’s obviously a troubled individual with some significant issues to need a xanax prescription in the first place, but all this – how fruity she is and whether she made it all up or not – is really besides the point.
I notice the “just following orders” defense is being put into play here in favor of the TSA goons that repeatedly and unquestionably violate our constitutionally-protected liberties on a daily basis. I find that more disturbing than the fact some delusional woman possibly invented some nightmare scenario for the purpose of attention-whoring.
Sure, TSA goons have a job to do and mouths to feed. One has to wonder what brought them to that line of work in the first place. In almost all cases (law enforcement, TSA, Congress…), the power over other people inherent in a particular vocation is enough to attract precisely the kind of people who should not hold such positions.
Sure, it’s better than running the fryer at McDonald’s, which is probably the only other thing most of these airport screeners are qualified to do. Pipe them through a two-week training course, give them a badge and a uniform, and turn some undereducated Little Napoleon loose on the American people.
Why We the People put up with it is beyond my comprehension. These goons have been proven time and time and time again to not be able to perform their primary function – that is, detect and intercept potential explosive devices and stop the people carrying them from boarding airplanes. If you’re carrying a tube of toothpaste or a bottle of shampoo, well, pray they have mercy on you.
Nobody’s ever taken the time to explain why my tube of toothpaste can only be so big. Nobody’s ever taken the time to explain why I need to take my belt off. Nobody’s ever explained to me what kind of bomb could possibly be hidden inside my laptop that justifies my having to take it out of its bag.
TSA airport checks aren’t about safety and they sure as hell aren’t about security, as has been proven time and time again. They’re about obedience – teaching a once feisty American public that they *will* learn to obey any semi-literate thug wearing a government-issued clown suit and claiming authority.
Kneel before Zod, America. You’ve earned it.