busted for weapon

Passenger Refuses To Give Up Knife

April 15, 2010

in Passenger Stories

I was flying from Anchorage to Seattle in 2003. The plane had maybe 30 people on it, so there was at least one row per person. I was in row 9, against the right window.

Just before we pushed back from the gate, I overheard a bit of a commotion in row 6, the bulkhead row. After a minute, I asked someone in row 8 what was going on, and he filled me in. The passenger in 6D had somehow gotten through post 9-11 airport security with a 4″ folding knife on his belt. Had he just left it there, it would not have been a problem – I mean, this is Alaska, where that’s not uncommon. But I started to pay closer attention to how this was going to play out.

But no. This guy had removed his boots and socks, removed the knife from its sheath, and was giving himself an amateur pedicure. When the person across from him objected to the flight attendant, the FA asked the man to put his knife away. He refused. She told him that if he would not, she would have to get the captain, and he would come back and insist on keeping the knife with him for the duration of the flight. Again he refused.

Being a former Marine, I know a threat when I see one. A short guy with a knife and an attitude is a threat. I really did NOT want to mix it up with a guy with a knife and an attitude, especially without any room to maneuver, but since I didn’t see anyone else nearby who was any better able to do so than me, I reluctantly did what Marines do – prepare for battle.

First, I told the young mom traveling with her baby seated across the aisle from me to move away from the aisle to the window, to keep them out of harm’s way. The Captain comes back, asks for the knife. Guy says no. Captain explains that if he refuses again, the Captain will have no choice but to have police remove him from the airplane and arrest him. Guy again says no!

By now, all kinds of alarm bells are going off in my head. This guy’s nucking futs! I have now moved to the aisle, seat belt unbuckled, armrest up, mentally and physically preparing to protect other passengers while knowing I will probably get messed up in the process.

What seemed like hours later, the front door opens and two cops come on board. Amazingly (and thankfully), the guy just sat there and waited for the cops, who arrested him without incident and removed him from the plane.

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Tagged as: busted for weapon, flight attendant, pilot, police, security

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Federal Agent Roughed Up By TSA

January 5, 2010

in Airport Stories

This is more a combination security nightmare and flight dream for a change; hope that’s okay. I am a Staff Sergeant (E-5) in the USAF. I was assigned to embassy detail in Iraq before the great new state of the art embassy was completed. I was three days from flying home and the diplomatic convoy I was running coverage for came under ambush. The attack was repelled but in the process I was hit multiple times in the chest; thank God for that new Dragon Skin body armor! I was also hit in the left shoulder through and through and grazed across the right side of my face.

Anyway my flight is understandably delayed and a week later when I’m set to fly home I take a government charter jet from Iraq to Ramstein AB, Germany and then from Frankfurt to D.C. on Lufthansa. Anyway I go to check in at Frankfurt and I’ll admit that I looked like hell, bruised, battered, rather scary looking I’m sure. I am going through security and the Germans were running GSG-9 troops at their security checkpoints due to a terror alert. Those are German Special Ops troops. They let me pass no problem. I get on the plane and I’m upgraded to First Class because it turns out while having a drink at the terminal lounge I was talking to a guy who asked what happened to my face; he turned out to be Lufthansa’s Frankfurt Airport head of security and a former spec ops guy. That was great.

Then I get to Dulles however. I have to spend the night and the next day I’m back at security and I’m pulled out of line for a flight that I’m already running late for and pinned against the wall as my bags are searched. When they find my sidearm on my person (which by the way as an AF Office of Special Investigations agent returning from Iraq I was authorized to carry), without asking me for or allowing me to retrieve my creds, I was thrown down in front of everyone and roughly handcuffed and dragged off at gunpoint. This was of course resolved when I called the Pentagon across the river for instructions.

These morons at security with TSA said that I looked suspicious and was acting like I was hiding something because I was limping and was pushing people away who got too close to my front. HEEELLLIOOOO I’d been shot several times in the chest. Even with a vest on anyone who’s ever had the experience of being shot vest or no vest you’re black and blue for a month. Then they got so excited when the found my gun they never finished searching me or my bags… idiots! They never even checked my wallet.

The first inkling they had that I was a Federal Agent and that they had screwed up royally was when the Deputy Director of OSI showed up from Andrews AFB and wanted to know why the TSA had wrongfully detained and roughed up a Federal Agent. Needless to say everyone involved lost their jobs as did the shift supervisor that day, but watch out as there are more idiots out there so don’t think you’re safe. If they forgot to properly search me and my bags, who else are they going to forget to search?

Signed- SA Really Pissed Off
Staff Sergeant, USAF
Office of Special Investigations

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Tagged as: airport, busted for weapon, military, security

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Weapons and Airplanes Don’t Mix

August 23, 2009

in Passenger Stories

I was on a LA to NYC flight with my son (11 years old) and before we left, my son bought a bunch of throwing stars from one of the China Town gift shops in LA. These things were Razor Sharp, I had no clue my son also bought a mini katana which when I wasn’t looking he slipped one of the throwing stars into my CARRY ON!!! He put the other weapons in my luggage…

Well we ACTUALLY made it past security (I still didn’t know I had a razor sharp throwing star in my carry on) and we boarded the plane. Next thing I know 2 air marshals with GUNS DRAWN at me and 5 Police officers with MP5 Sub Machine Guns stormed on the plane, threw me on floor of the plane and handcuffed me. I kept asking “What the hell are you guys doing?” My son is watching this, “What did I do???”

So the 5 police and 2 Air Marshals took me in cuffs off the plane with my son, and marched me in front of the entire terminal into this security back room. They then opened my luggage and pulled out the Mini Katana, The Throwing stars, then they pulled the one out of my CARRY ON! My son is pretty smart and began yelling “Its my fault! My Fault! I put that in there, I didn’t know…” But the police didn’t care. So the plane has already taken off by now, and my son is taken away.

I’m now being interrogated by 2 special agents about where these “weapons” came from, why I had them, why I bought my son weapons, and they kept insisting I put the throwing star in my own carry on. After 2 hours they said well, you aren’t leaving California for a while…I asked “What, like not on the next flight?” They said “No…you’re going to be held at the jail to see the judge, do you realize how many laws you have broken?” I began to freak out, I am 45 years old and never been arrested in my life. I said let me call my lawyer in New York please. They wouldn’t let me make any calls because they considered me a terrorist and I didn’t have “rights” in their eyes.

So I spent TWO YES (2) Nights in JAIL, spoke to the judge and was facing a $50,000 Fine or 1-5 Years in FEDERAL PRISON. I was released on a $100,000 BAIL, and had to return to LA in 2 months for court. Well my lawyer and I built our case in New York, and finally the court day came. I got no jail time but a $10,000 FINE PLUS Court Costs and my lawyer costs. Total Costs for this stupid mistake my son made added to about $20,000…..

Don’t bring weapons on a plane…ever…you will go to jail, even if its a legitimate accident.

WORST PLANE STORY EVER

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Tagged as: air marshal, airport, baggage, busted for weapon, police, security

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