Savvy Traveler

Took the girlfriend to New Orleans for the holiday weekend, and on the return through MSY security my bag garnered enough attention for a handsearch. I requested clean gloves (nicely) and the screener complied. I had followed the screener over to the designated bag secondary screening table with my shoes on but untied. I lifted my right leg on to it to re-tie my shoe. In a hostile tone, the screener commnaded that I remove my foot from the table. I told him I would as soon as my shoes were tied (read: your ...-clown policy makes me take off my shoes and I'll tie them whereever the hell I like.)

Mr. big screener man then says, "I said now!" while pushing my leg off the table. I yelled at him three times to keep his hands off me. I think he knew he could get in deep caca for doing that (he didn't call a supervisor) and I regret not pursuing it further.

What do you pundits think? Would an assault charge stick in this situation? Security cameras don't lie.

TakeScissorsAway

You should've called for the sup & a LEO right away.

Savvy Traveler

I think you're absolutely right, and I really wish I had. I was deterred by hving my girlfriend with me and not wanting to miss the flight due to an hour of conversation with LEO, etc.

abmj-jr

You insisted on clean gloves yet felt it was ok to put your feet on the work surface where other people's possessions would be searched?? You were wrong, my friend. The screener's reaction was offensive, but so was your action.

Savvy Traveler

While they are separate issues, I will address your point by saying that it was a direct reaction to the shoe carnival. We should go after the source of the idiocy here, not the symptoms of it.

VideoPaul

That's a battery and the TSA ape should have been handcuffed, arrested and prosecuted to the limit of the law. Had this happened, I would have sat right down and SCREAMED for a cop until one showed up. Had the cop refused to do anything, the next call would have been to an attorney and the district attorney's office.

This kind of crap is going to get worse as their authoritah gets more pervasive and their untouchability with a labor union representing them arrives.

Credit where it's due, I have seen OVERALL tereatment of pax get better steadily over the past few months. Much less addressing people with a friggin' bullhorn and a lot more adherence to the SOP. This guy is a bad actor and needs to be culled from the herd.

--PP

blondedawn

I'm not a lawyer, so cannot give you any actual legal advice or opinion, but:

Laws vary from state to state -- especially in Louisiana, which is a civil law jurisdiction and thus works in ways completely different from the rest of the country. However, this probably would technically fit within the technical definition of battery (which is generally conceived as offensive, nonconsensual touching).

Whether that gets you anywhere is another story. I tend to think no D.A. would prosecute this incident for both due to its "de minimis" character (I know its not de minimis to you, but given the murders, etc. going on in New Orleans its not going to be real high on the prosecutor's list of priorities) and the fact that I believe the New Orleans legal system is still dealing with a backlog/shortage of resources due to Katrina.

You should, however, report this guy to his supervisors ASAP.

Savvy Traveler

Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear, I have no way of pressing charges at this point (since in my fury I walked off without getting the screener's name) so it's an academic debate unless I want to fly back to MSY and find him.

VideoPaul

Didn't I see somewhere that screeners were required to ask for and recieve consent to go hands on? Every time I have had a complimentary grope and rubdown the screener has explained what they were going to do and asked if I had any objections.

Now my initial, testosterone filled reaction would have been to grab the guy's hand and tell him to back the hell off before he got a fresh big city whoopin', but that would have led to the wrong guy getting arrested so that gets grounded out in the name of prudence. Still, it's a lot of fun to picture, if only in your mind's eye, a thug screener getting plastered up against a wall with his left wrist between his ears and hearing a verbal option to either keep his hands to himself or find out first hand if a dislocated shoulder is as much fun as it looked in the Mel Gibson buddy movies.

The proper response, I think, would have been to delay you further by completely rescreening you as there are signs warning you not ot touch their sacrosanct tables. But going hands on is wrong and the a$$wipe should be in front of a judge right now, out of a job, and back at Wendy's where he belongs.

--PP

LessO2

File an FOIA and get the video from the security cameras.

Spiff

And then pursue assault charges. I think you should have summoned a law enforcement officer immediately.

Spiff

I disagree completely.

People should not have to take off their shoes. Said shoes are already placed on the table for further "screening". If the OP wanted to retie them then and there, that was his perogative.

The Shoe Carnival needs to be terminated and so do the imbeciles responsible for it.

peachfront

I don't believe an assault charge would stick, video or no video. The airport is in Kenner, and you just don't want to be in a position to bring any kind of lawsuit or challenge to authority there if you ever plan to pass through Jefferson Parish again. Having lived there years ago, I would never set foot there again if I didn't have to. Since I do have to pass through there, I really don't feel free to say anything else except that 1) this is NOT Orleans Parish, and 2) you have no expectation of justice there.

You do know a guy just killed his wife, on video, in Jefferson Parish, and the rich ******* is out on bail even though it's a murder charge, and dollars to doughnuts they'll delay his trial until he dies of old age, don't you? In that Parish, it's all about who you know and how much you have in your pocket.

Also, as another poster pointed out, it's kind of questionable that you ask for the man to use fresh gloves (implying his hands are dirty) and then put your shoes on the table. I know, I sympathize that it's hard to bend over, and I often have to prop my shoes on the table as well. But I think you got off on the wrong foot with the guy in the first place. No one has ever said anything to me about the way I replace my shoes. Most of the screeners seem friendly and quick with a smile. Yes, it's wrong to push anyone, but it's also wrong to imply that a public employee is somehow unclean.

I think it's a wash. You both stepped over the line of good manners, but it doesn't seem to me that it's a matter for the courts. I am not a lawyer though, I'm just sharing an opinion. Jefferson Parish juries are very conservative and hate to see anyone get any monetary award, so if I were you, I'd just blow off the whole episode.


Never forget -- Jefferson Parish is NOT Orleans, and your case would not be heard in a New Orleans court.

skAAtinsteph

Whether you agree with the shoe carnival or the screening process or not, is it really appropriate to put you foot up on the table to tie your shoe? Are you physically unable to tie your shoes in the same manner as most people are?

FWAAA

Imagine the legal trouble our OP would find themselves in had the OP pushed the screener instead of the other way around.

I can understand the OP's reluctance to push it. A screener-thug who commits battery on passengers might just be willing to lie to the responding LEOs, the wagons are immediately circled and all of a sudden the OP is in need of new teeth once the thugs get done slamming his face into the terminal floor a couple times. Sure, the OP may have prevailed eventually, but sometimes you just wanna get away from thugs and go home.