John Tyner was on his way to go pheasant hunting with his father-in-law in South Dakota. However, he got escorted out of the airport instead and will probably end up on a Department of Homeland Security no-fly list. His crime?
He told a TSA agent not to grab or touch his penis area. Because he didn't want to be sexually assaulted by the thugs at the TSA he was not only escorted out of the airport, he may also face $10,000 in fines and a civil suit.
Tyner told the TSA agent he was opting out of the both the naked full body scan and the groping of his groin area. He recorded the incident on his cell phone as well.
Tyner went as far as telling the TSA agent, ""You touch my junk and I'm going to have you arrested."
Bravo, bravo! It's about time someone fought back.
Of course, these aren' words the TSA want to hear. This sent them into a 'Code Red.' The local police department began showing up at the area.
According to TSA when the controversial body scanners were installed, travelers would have the option to request walking through the traditional metal detector it would be accompanied by a "pat down."
Why Tyner was targeted for a secondary pat down is unknown.
"I'm 6-foot-1, white with short brown hair," he said Saturday night. "I don't look like a terrorist."
Was he singled out for "punishment"?
Before Tyner was told he was getting a "groin check," a TSA agent is heard on the recording telling another agent "I had a problem with the passenger I was patting down. So I backed down. He was obnoxious."
Tyner is sure he was talking about someone else. On the whole, with a single final exception, he found the agents "professional if standoffish."
He did marvel that while his own situation was being deliberated, many passengers passed through the metal detector and on to their flights with no pat-down. "One guy even set off the alarm and they sent him through again without a pat-down," he said.
Once he threatened to have the TSA agent arrested though, events turned surreal.
A supervisor is heared re-explaining the groin check process to Tyner then adding "If you're not comfortable with that we can escort you back out and you don't have to fly today."
Tyner responded "OK, I don't understand how a sexual assault can be made a condition of my flying."
"This is not considered a sexual assault," replied the supervisor, calmly.
"It would be if you were not the government," said Tyner.
"By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights," countered the TSA supervisor.
"I think the government took them away after 9/11,' said Tyner.
"OK," came the reply.
More senior TSA administrators showed up, and one San Diego police officer. Tyner's personal information was taken down and then he was escorted out of the security area. After he put his shoes back.
His father-in-law, a 40 year retired deputy sheriff can be heard pleading in the back ground for some common sense.
Tyner went over to the American Airlines counter where an agent, to his amazement, refunded the price of his non-refundable ticket.
Before he could leave however he was again surrounded by TSA employees who told him he couldn't leave the security area. One, who kept insisting he was trying to help Tyner, told him that if he left he would be subject to a civil suit and a $10,000 fine.
Tyner asked if the agents who escorted him from the security area would also be sued and fined.
The same man who told Tyner he would be sued and fined if he left, also insisted that he did not tell him he couldn't leave.
So Tyner left.
Two hours later he wrote the whole experience up on his blog and posted the audio files to YouTube.
You could say it has gone viral.
By Saturday evening, 70,000 people had accessed the entry and 488 comments were posted to the blog item. Those comments are divided over Tyner's experience. "Only 5 percent say I'm an idiot," he said.
Far more applaud him for "standing up" to the security forces. Many more people share his disdain for how airport security is conducted.
"People generally are angry about what is going on," said Tyner, "but they don't know how to assert their rights....there is a general feeling that TSA is ineffective, out of control, over-reaching."