Mocek now suing for civil rights violations
 

In a follow up to the whole Phil Mocek situation with the TSA:

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/daily...ocek_suing.php
​Remember the case of Seattle's Phil Mocek, the guy who tried to pass through Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Albuquerque airport in November, 2009 without a valid ID? The 37-year-old software developer and political gadfly not only ended up missing his flight home, but was also slapped with a quartet of misdemeanor charges, all four of which were eventually dismissed in January after recordings proved that airport officials made false claims about Mocek's behavior during the incident. But Mocek's acquittal, it seems, isn't the end of his story. He's now planning to sue the City of Albuquerque, their Aviation Police, and, eventually, the TSA for alleged civil rights violations.

Reached by phone this morning, Mocek explains that while his arrest and trial raised awareness about the flimsy legal justification TSA cites to require passengers to show their ID and prevent audio and video recordings in the airport, his ultimate goal is to change the government's policy on the matters. A lawsuit, he believes, is the best means to that end.

"I was wronged in this situation," says Mocek, who is also active with Seattle's Cannabis Defense Coalition. "And if what has happened puts me in a position of getting a court to take a look at what the TSA is doing and possibly force them to change the way they do things, it would be irresponsible of me not to do so."

[trimmed for respect for copyrights. -- Mods]

Here's the letter sent to the City of Albuquerque by Mocek's attorneys, courtesy of The Identity Project, which has been keeping close tabs on Mocek's case since the very beginning:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/56475027/P...of-Albuquerque

Good for Phil!

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8830/4.5.0.138 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Let's all be disciplined enough with out dialogue so as to not put his lawsuit at risk.

I'm not sure how our discussion could put his lawsuit at risk. Presumably, Phil has good counsel, who will advise him on what to say and not to say during the course of this case. Phil showed remarkable restraint during his criminal trial in not commenting on his own case, beyond obvious matters of public record. If similar behavior is called for in his civil case, he seems quite capable of living underneath the Cone of Silence as along as deemed necessary.

I hope Phil prevails. I would love to see some action against the TSA employees who called the police in the first place. They should not get a free pass.

I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I just made my post out of an abundance of caution. ;)

Agreed ^

Let's put it this way.....airline & hotels reps read F/t either in an official capacity (they have joined & announced that they are here to help) or in an unofficial capacity (they lurk) and one hundred billion hockey pucks says that happens with the TSA, other branches of DHS and law enforcement agencies so the less said on this issue in the forums the better and if it is to be brought public, let Phil do it. :)

The defense might attmept introduce (and might actually prevail in doing so) various threds and posts on flytertalk and on other sites to attempt to show that Phil was intent on making a scene and testing the law or somehow grandstanding. I assume they will try to introduce evidence of Phil's role in the CBC; it is not relevant and I doubt any judge would let it in.

There isn't much we can do here that would hurt his case, though.

My prayers are with you, Phil!

I'm sure this will be another long thread, but someone needs to push back against these silly government folk.

I hope he goes to trial rather than settle.

Depends on what "settlement" means. If it involves a binding agreement on TSA to knock off these aggregious behaviors, with court supervision of the agreement, I don't see a problem.

Phil has a bit of a track record at this point. ^:cool:

Phil Mocek is awesome. I follow him on Twitter.

That is all.

Phil is so mild-mannered and unassuming that he seems quite an unlikely hero, but he is indeed exactly that. One day we will be thanking Phil for taking substantial risks -- and paying a high price -- to reestablish our liberties in this country. I just hope we win in the long run. Phil's latest case is one element in a much larger picture.

Bruce