Originally Posted by
Upgraded!
The thing to remember is that once the police arrive, that is the time to start following directives and instructions to avoid arrest because it is your reactions to their orders that can result in such a charge.
Once again, in this case the DC charge came only after the police had begun to escort the author from the checkpoint and she sat down on the floor rather than following.
Originally Posted by the article
The old goat of a cop shoves me. "Get the hell out of here!" he yells, "Go on, stop causin' trouble."
I am in my stocking feet, with no cell phone, wallet or back pack. I stare at his snaring face and I can't. I just can't walk away. In for a penny, in for a pound. I sit down.
The article states she was "shoved" away from the checkpoint, not "escorted," and she was without her personal property or even her ID and shoes. What's she supposed to do, grab a taxi and go home with no shoes, wallet, or phone? Walk home in stocking feet on hot asphalt roads? This really is becoming more and more of a police state.
In the vast majority of this type of case I read about, the TSA and/or cop seem to escalate the situation by making unreasonable demands (i.e., shut up, stop asking questions, give up non-WEI personal property, or leave the airport without your wallet, shoes, or ID) in what seems to be an effort to egg the person on to behavior that can be used to justify arrest.
In the past, peace officers seemed to be trained to de-escalate situations. E.g., in this case "ma'am, why don't you and the TSM continue your discussion over here away from the screening line," or "Mr. TSM, she's not refusing to be screened, please screen her and let her on her way." But now that they are LEOs instead of peace officers, they just want to escalate and arrest.