|
Did I miss something? Who is the other FTer who was arrested?
Eastwest, please retain an attorney. Although we have some resident attorneys on the board who can offer their opinions, there have been many cases where people have successfully sued the police department, city/county and individual cops for false arrest. Down here in South Florida, the brutish Sheriff departments are quite used to being sued for a variety of similar offenses. I don't know if you have a good case or not, but this is not something to take lying down and let it go. You did good - if it were me, and I was being arrested anyway under the same conditions, I would have probably totally lost my cool and kicked the TSA person in the mouth on my way out the door in exchange for his troubles. Then they would have something to charge me with. I also think this is one for media attention - just the idea of being arrested "for a ball of rubber bands" (the media would probably concentrate on that angle) should make the TSA and the police department in question look like fools. Please let us know how things pan out, and I'm sorry you had to go through this. Also, even if you don't sue, consider hiring an attorney to have the arrest expunged from your record. |
I too suggest getting ahold of all the electronic and paper trail evidence possible. The faster you can get a lawyer in the applicable jurisdiction invovled the better your chances of getting all that is necessary to make the case.
|
Originally Posted by bocastephen
Did I miss something? Who is the other FTer who was arrested?
|
Originally Posted by eastwest
I was departing a small commuter airport in Southern California last week and I found myself in jail! Here's the story with the facts, and without any "emotional hype."
About two years ago I made a big, rubber band ball. It's bigger than a softball, but not as big as a basketball. It's made of 100% rubber bands, and the core is nothing but knotted rubber bands. It's been in the trunk of a car that I own and keep down there for most of that time. I decided to bring it home to Anchorage to work on more, and that proved to be a bad decision. I threw it in my carry-on and headed off to the airport. When I got there, I "dinged" at the metal detector while wearing a belt that has never alarmed before. I removed the belt and went through a second time, and "passed." As I got through I noticed that my carry-on bag was open and being rummaged through. The TSA agent held up my rubber band ball and asked, "what's this?" I replied, "it's my rubber band ball. What are you doing looking through my bag?" The Sheriff that was standing there said, "you gave implied consent to search your bag by coming through the checkpoint." I retorted, "you need to ask me first though, and I object to your digging through it out here. If you want to look in there, we need to do it in private." So the LEO grabbed my bag and he, myself, the TSA "boss," and a TSA agent went behind a curtain. They dug through my stuff and took the rubber band ball away for further screening. They came back with the rubber band ball and told the "TSA boss" that it was positive for flammable residue and that it had something metal at the core. He started up at me accusing me of wrongdoing and saying things about it being a "precursor" or a "trigger." I told him to "quit running at the mouth" and that it was "nothing of the sort." I explained that it had been in the trunk of my car for a long time and probably picked up a bit of oil or gas or something from that. I also told him that there was nothing at the core and that it was 100% rubber bands. The cop started in on me, and I finally said, "look, I'll give you the ball. I just want to get on my flight." The TSA guy ignored me, and kept asking me what was in the center of the ball. I kept telling him it was nothing but rubber bands. The TSA took it away again and x-rayed it again and said there was something metallic in the center. I kept denying it and denying any wrong doing. The cop then switched tactics and asked, "are you smuggling drugs?" I told him that was "outrageous" and produced my SIDA badge and my airline ID. I asked him if his question was serious. He started asking why I didn't have any checked luggage to which I replied, "Dude, I load bags all day. I know better than to check them." He again accused me of "smuggling something." This had gone on for about 1/2 an hour and I knew the flight was leaving soon. I repeated, "you can have the rubber band ball. I just need to get home, so I need to get going." The LEO said, "you're not going anywhere." At that point, I knew I was in trouble. He pulled out his pocket-sized flashlight and said, "take off your sunglasses, I think you're on drugs." I said, "what?!" He replied, "I am ordering you to take off your sunglasses." So I did. He shined the light in my eyes, and said, "Yep, you're on something. Anything you need to tell me?" I was incredulous. I said, "Look! I showed you my SIDA badge, I'm in the random drug test pool, I get tested regularly, I don't use drugs. Now or ever." He said, "I don't believe you. Turn around and put your right hand behind your back." He snapped on handcuffs and said I was under arrest for suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance. The "TSA boss" practically wet his pants as he excitedly thanked the LEO for "taking care of me." I was led outside, put in the back seat and taken to jail. I've never been arrested before (in the US) so I didn't know what to expect. We got to the station and I was put in a holding cell. I was there for a little less than an hour. The LEO came back and advised me that I would be held for a minimum of 12 hours for observation. He advised that I had to take a blood or urine test (my choice) and that when he got to the bottom of this that I'd be in jail for a long time. I just shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't afraid. I've been arrested in Indonesia on trumped up charges, and that's all that these were. I picked blood test, so I was shackled at the ankles and cuffed at the wrists and lead out to the cop car again. We went to the hospital where they drew blood. They were nice to me. They got me a drink of water and didn't yell at me or cuss at me. (Unlike the cop.) My blood tested clean...big surprise...then the cop got nice too. He said that he had to hold me for 12 hours but that I'd get out after that. When we got back to the jail they uncuffed me and unshackled me and were nicer. The cop asked if there was anything in the rubber band ball and I told him no. I told him to cut it open for all I cared. He took a big knife and cut it open and surprise...there was nothing but rubber bands. The jailer told him that this was "stupid" and she told me that she was sorry but they did have to hold me for 12 hours but then she put me in my own cell (which I appreciated) and let me call my dad on the phone. She gave me some magazines to read in my cell, and also let me pick what to watch through the bars on the TV on the outside. She told me to call for her if I wanted the channels changed. It's stupid to say, but they didn't do that for anyone else. I asked for something to eat and was given a microwaved TV dinner that I gratefully devoured. I also got a styrofoam cup of Sunny Delight with my meal. Other than that, jail sucked. There were bad people in there, and when I had to pee, I had to do it in front of a camera that I'm sure someone was watching. Sure enough, 12 hours later, I got a paper from them showing that the charges were dropped and I was let out the front door where my dad picked me up. The next day, I flew out of LAX and didn't have any problems. I even wore the same belt through the metal detector and it didn't "ding." I did, however, leave my rubber band ball at home. It's not a ball anymore. It's just a big paper sack of cut up rubber bands. :( Welcome to 2006 and your TSA. By the way, lest anyone question what I did to "bring this on myself"...note that I WAS NOT arrested for interfering with the TSA or with the LEO...because I DIDN'T. I was instead arrested on trumped up charges so that they could check out my rubber band ball that was a "trigger" or "precursor" and "contained something metallic" according to the TSA. I have a SIDA badge so if it can happen to me...it could happen to ANY of you. Cheers howie |
I know this may sound stupid but what is an SIDA badge?
|
Originally Posted by tom911
Make a trip over to OMNI and you'll see that thread.
|
Originally Posted by JohnneeO
Is that KarenH? I saw that thread this morning. Has it been moved out of the common areas ? I am still several dozen posts short of Omni access.
|
Originally Posted by ND Sol
What is going on here? We now have stories of arrests of two FlyerTalk members at the checkpoint and of the FBI executing a search warrant for another. This is just so wrong. :mad:
It makes you wonder if two FT members are arrested in two days, and another with a warrant, how many "regular" flyers has this happened to recently???? :confused: :confused: :confused: |
Originally Posted by tonerman
I know this may sound stupid but what is an SIDA badge?
To the OP: I am very sorry. This is no longer the country that I helped defend, although I'm sure there are more recent vets who would disagree with me (although to be fair they'd probably disagree if I said the sun will indeed rise in the east each morning). |
Originally Posted by stockmanjr
This is quite different than what occured with the other person who was arrested.I'm kinda lost why they didnt cut open the thing right away to see what was in it?I mean that would have made everyones life easier! Sometimes these cops cross the line and dont think and certainly this is the case here.I'm sorry this happend to you eastwest and hopefully you can go after the idiot cop in the way of a lawsuit.I find the cop even more at fault than the TSA here..I'm not sure why it looked metalic on the xray I'm sure someone who has more expertise here could comment on that.
Cheers howie |
Thank you all for your support. I really do appreciate it. At this point, I'm not planning to pursue the issue any further. I'm not too sure what my "rights" are at this point. It's entirely possible that I could end up on a no-fly list or have to defend my SIDA access or who knows what? The bottom line is that the TSA can basically do whatever they want. Who is to stop them?
And to answer someone's question: I'd rather not say which airport I was flying out of at this point. It isn't one serviced by AS or QX (or I probably wouldn't have been so hesitant to check a bag.) Lastly, I was traveling on a paid/revenue ticket. I'm glad for that. I was just "John Q Public" on this flight and was not using my airline privileges for anything. I hope that will help me "defend" myself if my employer or the Airport Authority have any concerns about this... |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
This may not be applicable to TSA-used x-ray machines, but a densely packed ball of rubberbands will be seen by some x-ray operators to look indistinguishable from a dense metallic solid on some x-rays. Same thing for a densely packed stack of magazines of certain paper stock.
|
eastwest - having had the privilege of meeting you in person - I hope that you are all right and know that you are reasonable, sensible, and not given to hyperness in your regular dealings.
Where is the media to report on this? This kind of story 2 weeks before an election is perfect. This just saddens me - we're all presumed GUILTY now? :td: Again, I do hope you're OK after this. |
I would pursue this for the simple reason that you need to get your record cleared. You will now have to report that you have been arrested for something. Therefore you should speak to an attorney in order to have your record expunged and if that requires sueing multiple individuals I'd get that process started as soon as possible.
|
Originally Posted by ND Sol
How about using a HHMD to determine if there was a metallic object inside? Would that have been too difficult?
However, when dealing with a dense collection of stacked non-metallic items, the HHMD wands may not beep on a small metal object (like a bullet perhaps) concealed inside/in between a sizeable collection of certain non-metallic materials, like say my earlier reference to a stack of magazines of certain paper stock. I don't know about concealment of a small metallic object inside a rather dense collection of rubber bands from real reports being as effective vis-a-vis the HHMD wands, but even if the HHMD doesn't work having the OP cut open the rubber ball probably was a more common sense approach than arresting them on imagined drug use. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 1:15 pm. |
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.