TSA Plants Bag-O-Powder on Passenger as Joke

maxrule · Jan 21, 2010

Keep this in mind the next time you fly.

Daniel Rubin: It was no joke at security gate

In the tense new world of air travel, we're stripped of shoes, told not to take too much shampoo on board, frowned on if we crack a smile.

The last thing we expect is a joke from a Transportation Security Administration screener - particularly one this stupid.

Rebecca Solomon is 22 and a student at the University of Michigan, and on Jan. 5 she was flying back to school after holiday break. She made sure she arrived at Philadelphia International Airport 90 minutes before takeoff, given the new regulations.

She would be flying into Detroit on Northwest Airlines, the same city and carrier involved in the attempted bombing on Christmas, just 10 days before. She was tense.

What happened to her lasted only 20 seconds, but she says they were the longest 20 seconds of her life.

After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, she went to collect her things.

A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on - the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.

She remembers his words: "Where did you get it?"

Two thoughts came to her in a jumble: A terrorist was using her to sneak bomb-detonating materials on the plane. Or a drug dealer had made her an unwitting mule, planting coke or some other trouble in her bag while she wasn't looking.

She'd left her carry-on by her feet as she handed her license and boarding pass to a security agent at the beginning of the line.

Answer truthfully, the TSA worker informed her, and everything will be OK.

Solomon, 5-foot-3 and traveling alone, looked up at the man in the black shirt and fought back tears.

Put yourself in her place and count out 20 seconds. Her heart pounded. She started to sweat. She panicked at having to explain something she couldn't.

Now picture her expression as the TSA employee started to smile.

Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.

And so she collected her things, stunned, and the tears began to fall.

Another passenger, a woman traveling to Colorado, consoled her as others who had witnessed the confrontation went about their business. Solomon and the woman walked to their gates, where each called for security and reported what had happened.

A joke? You're not serious. Was he hitting on her? Was he flexing his muscle? Who at a time of heightened security and rattled nerves would play so cavalierly with a passenger's emotions?

When someone is trying to blow planes out of the sky, what is a TSA employee doing with his eyes off the ball?

When she complained to airport security, Solomon said, she was told the TSA worker had been training the staff to detect contraband. She was shocked that no one took him off the floor, she said.

"It was such a violation," the Wynnewood native told me by phone. "I'd come early. I'd done everything right. And they were kidding about it."

I ran her story past Ann Davis, regional TSA spokeswoman, who said she knew nothing to contradict the young traveler's account.

Davis said privacy law prevents her from identifying the TSA employee. The law prevents her from disclosing what sort of discipline he might have received.

"The TSA views this employee's behavior to be highly inappropriate and unprofessional," she wrote. "We can assure travelers this employee has been disciplined by TSA management at Philadelphia International Airport, and he has expressed remorse for his actions."

Maybe he's been punished enough. That Solomon's father, Jeffrey, is a Center City litigator might mean this story isn't over.

In the meantime, I think the TSA worker should spend time following passengers through the scanners, handing them their shoes. Maybe he could tie them, too.

Update: Ann Davis, the TSA spokeswoman, said this afternoon that the worker is no longer employed by the agency as of today. She said privacy laws prevented her from saying if he was fired or left on his own.
Daniel Rubin: It was no joke at security gate | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/21/2010
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redchrons · Jan 21, 2010

U of M student lmao...."Such a violation" lmfao what a dumb cunt honestly....I bet she the kind that has Northface jackets and Uggs...for sure man.

sky dog · Jan 21, 2010

What an asshole

They would have arrested me anyway because I would have kicked the shit out of whoever tried that

stoner_lukas · Jan 21, 2010

sky dog said:

What an asshole

They would have arrested me anyway because I would have kicked the shit out of whoever tried that
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^This.

There's nothing funny whatsoever about the situation. Hundreds of people are apprehended daily by TSA for routine "random" checks. Had this been a real situation, where somebody had actually slipped something into her bag, do you think they would have believed her?

Hell no, and that's why it's not funny.

maxrule · Jan 21, 2010

sky dog said:

What an asshole

They would have arrested me anyway because I would have kicked the shit out of whoever tried that
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I was thinking the exact same thing.

I'm non violent but I can be riled.

kangasaurus · Jan 21, 2010

redchrons said:

U of M student lmao...."Such a violation" lmfao what a dumb cunt honestly....I bet she the kind that has Northface jackets and Uggs...for sure man.
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Um, what? Where did this come from? Who gives a shit if she has Uggs are Northface jackets? Why is that even relevant?

On topic, that shit's fucked up, especially in this day and age where even uttering the word 'bomb' too loudly in an airport can get you dragged off.

Cudi Get 20 · Jan 21, 2010

kangasaurus said:

Um, what? Where did this come from? Who gives a shit if she has Uggs are Northface jackets? Why is that even relevant?

On topic, that shit's fucked up, especially in this day and age where even uttering the word 'bomb' too loudly in an airport can get you dragged off.
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For real, I wear my northface jacket all the time..

Anyways, that is so fucked up. How can they do something like that? Like someone else said, if somebody had slipped that in her bag or something they would have never believed her.

maxrule · Jan 21, 2010

Cudi Get 20 said:

For real, I wear my northface jacket all the time..

Anyways, that is so fucked up. How can they do something like that? Like someone else said, if somebody had slipped that in her bag or something they would have never believed her.
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It sounds like they are screening passengers a lot more intensively than they screen their own workers.

It would have taken me a milisecond to reply 'THAT AINT MINE YOU #@$! *#$! !@#@ *#$%! $@## *$!#.....

UNAB0MB3R · Jan 21, 2010

i dunno. maybe im an asshole, but i think its kinda funny. no harm no foul. she shouldnt have gotten so worked up if she knew it wasnt hers.

stoner_lukas · Jan 21, 2010

UNAB0MB3R said:

i dunno. maybe im an asshole, but i think its kinda funny. no harm no foul. she shouldnt have gotten so worked up if she knew it wasnt hers.
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Just because she knew it wasn't her's doesn't mean they would not have prosecuted her for it, had it been a real situation. Do you really think they would have said "well alright, you claim it isn't yours, you're free to go."

Millions of drug users have tried that excuse before. It has never worked. It would have been no different had this not been an hypothetical situation.

maxrule · Jan 21, 2010

stoner_lukas said:

Just because she knew it wasn't her's doesn't mean they would not have prosecuted her for it, had it been a real situation. Do you really think they would have said "well alright, you claim it isn't yours, you're free to go."

Millions of drug users have tried that excuse before. It has never worked. It would have been no different had this not been an hypothetical situation.
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No doubt about it.

You know where she was headed next.

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TSA Plants Bag-O-Powder on Passenger as Joke

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