Originally Posted by
Landing Gear
...1. The TSA has posted two clips showing Ms. Emerson in the EXIT LANE of airport security. Why was she sent through security and out the exit lane? Why didn't they just turn her around? If liquids are so deadly, who would want someone carrying them inside the secure area?
By all accounts, she was escorted out, so whatever threat such liquids might be, their momentary presence in the secure area under the watchful eye of security would not be a problem.
Originally Posted by
Landing Gear
2. Most of the issue here centers on what happened when Ms. Emmerson approached the initial screening. Where is the video of that encounter with the TSA? If the TSA has it, then let's see it. Otherwise, the inference can be drawn that it is showing something unfavorable to them....
Huh? There is actually no real dispute about what happened as she approached initial screening. Her claim of mistreatment starts with what happened at the exit:
The incident started when Monica, who left the Secret Service to raise a family, was stopped while going through airport security because there was water in her son's sippy cup. The sippy cup was seized by TSA. Monica wanted the cup back because the sippy cup was the only way her son would drink -- and it was a long flight between Washington, DC and Reno, Nevada where she was going for a family reunion. If you've ever had a toddler you understand about sippy cups.
So she was willing to spill the water out. Drink the water. Anything -- all that she wanted was to be able to have a cup that her 19-month-old toddler could drink from.
Here's what happened in Monica's words:
"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.
The TSA report doesn't dispute any of this, except to note that the LEO and Ms. Emmerson disagreed about whether the water spill was accidental.
http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/dca_incident_061107.pdf