Sippy-Cup Terrorist Thwarted

“Nightmare at Reagan National Airport: A Security Story to End all Security Storiesby Bill Adler | June 14, 2007 at 06:10 am

UPDATE: TSA has posted a video in the incident on their website. You can read more about this video, the TSA incident report, and the incident itself HERE.




If you travel enough, you've seen it all -- and possibly some of the awful things that can happen while traveling will have actually happened to you. But nothing I've read about or experienced comes close to what Monica Emmerson experienced while at Reagan National Airport on June 11th while traveling with her 19-month-old toddler. This isn't one of those Catch-22 bureaucratic snafus; this isn't about rules being applied to the letter. This story is mostly about what can happen simply because the authorities in charge decide that they're going to exercise their authority because they can, regardless of whether it's legal or right or makes any sense at all.

And if this can happen to a former law enforcement officer with the United States Secret Service, it can happen to anyone.

The incident started when Monica, who left the Secret Service to raise a family, was stopped while going through airport security because there was water in her son's sippy cup. The sippy cup was seized by TSA. Monica wanted the cup back because the sippy cup was the only way her son would drink -- and it was a long flight between Washington, DC and Reno, Nevada where she was going for a family reunion. If you've ever had a toddler you understand about sippy cups.

So she was willing to spill the water out. Drink the water. Anything -- all that she wanted was to be able to have a cup that her 19-month-old toddler could drink from.

Here's what happened in Monica's words:

"I demanded to speak to a TSA [Transportation Security Administration] supervisor who asked me if the water in the sippy cup was 'nursery water or other bottled water.' I explained that the sippy cup water was filtered tap water. The sippy cup was seized as my son was pointing and crying for his cup. I asked if I could drink the water to get the cup back, and was advised that I would have to leave security and come back through with an empty cup in order to retain the cup. As I was escorted out of security by TSA and a police officer, I unscrewed the cup to drink the water, which accidentally spilled because I was so upset with the situation.

"At this point, I was detained against my will by the police officer and threatened to be arrested for endangering other passengers with the spilled 3 to 4 ounces of water. I was ordered to clean the water, so I got on my hands and knees while my son sat in his stroller with no shoes on since they were also screened and I had no time to put them back on his feet. I asked to call back my fiancé, who I could still see from afar, waiting for us to clear security, to watch my son while I was being detained, and the officer threatened to arrest me if I moved. So I yelled past security to get the attention of my fiancé.

"I was ordered to apologize for the spilled water, and again threatened with arrest. I was threatened several times with arrest while detained, and while three other police officers were called to the scene of the mother with the 19 month old. A total of four police officers and three TSA officers reported to the scene where I was being held against my will. I was also told that I should not disrespect the officer and could be arrested for this too. I apologized to the officer and she continued to detain me despite me telling her that I would miss my flight. The officer advised me that I should have thought about this before I 'intentionally spilled the water!'"


Monica said that the incident ended this way: "I missed my flight, needless to say after being detained for over 40 minutes. After the officer was done humiliating me, I was advised that I could go through the security check point in an attempt to catch my flight. The officer insisted that my son and I be rescreened despite us both being detained and under her control the entire time."

During the weeks and months after 9/11 some passengers who were caught with unidentified fluids while going through airport security were told to drink the liquid (including breast milk) to prove that it wasn't an explosive. In one incident, a fourteen year old boy was ordered to drink water that he was carrying, and it turned out that this was unclean pond water he was carrying for a science project. Monica was more than happy to drink her child's tap water --all three or four ounces of it-- and tried, in fact. But it was the trying and spilling that seems to have escalated this into a situation that required the presence of four TSA officers and three police officers.

TSA found no other security problems with Monica Emmerson. Not even a nail clipper. Just the water and the sippy cup.

TSA's rules allow passengers to take up to three ounces of liquid on board; they also allow parents to take milk or baby formula on board in larger quantities than that, if declared to TSA. But the question that she was asked by TSA --was this "nursery water" in the sippy cup?-- was an unanswerable one, since there's no such thing as nursery water in the TSA regulations, and it's not a generic term.

Monica Emmerson was detained for 45 minutes. She wasn't questioned about possible ties to terrorists. Her carry-on items weren't rigorously searched -- or even searched again. Neither the police nor TSA took any action that indicated that they throught she might be a security risk. She was just detained, harassed and threatened with arrest. All because of a sippy cup with water in it.






http://www.nowpublic.com/nightmare_at_reagan_national_airport_a_security_story_to_end_all_security_stories






whew. i feel safer”

“Sounds like she was trying to be difficult. Her own testimony seems to hurt her case. It helps when you don't have an attitude to go through security at airports. I travel all the time, people like this j8st try to make it difficult for the screeners. She coukd have said "yes" and been on her way.”

“Corey... to what question should she have answered "yes"?”

“sounds like total bull---t to me......another internet 'story'...”

“theres video to go along, altho you cant hear what was said”

“[T]he question that she was asked by TSA --was this "nursery water" in the sippy cup?-- was an unanswerable one, since there's no such thing as nursery water in the TSA regulations, and it's not a generic term.

ahem:
http://www.nurserywater.com/home.html”

“there's no such thing as nursery water in the TSA regulations”

“They should have tasered her at 1 min, 30 sec.”

“shouldnt the discovery channel be suing the tsa for copyright infringement?”

“I wonder when they'll start marketing bottled water for dogs & cats!


Every passenger on Air Force One (and Two) should abide by the same restrictions as everyone else.  Do they do the 2-2-2?

"Sorry George, you have to take off your $20,000 cowboy boots to get on the plane ---"”

“crap.       spoke too soon...       http://www.petrefresh.com/

Dog Water, Tastes Like Chicken
Premium, meat-flavored bottled water for pets: silly trifle, or hot sign of the apocalypse?


Alert the TSA.



last edited: 6/16/07 8:23:10 AM”

“couldnt you just let some meat soak in water for awhile and let them drink that?”

“oh oh... video released by the TSA shows that little Miss SS is quite the beotch.
She actually dumps the water out in the concourse. Her claim that she spilled it is quite false.

Thou shall not lie (or twist the facts) in the age of Video Surveillance!

Vid of Miss SS leaving checkout:
http://www.tsa.gov/assets/wmv/dca_incident1.wmv

Vid of Miss SS in exit lane clearly showing her dumping the water out:
http://www.tsa.gov/assets/wmv/dca_incident2.wmv”

“youve never done something on accident that looked intentional? the woman was in a hurry because she didnt have much time til her flight (she actually missed it, so we know that time was tight)”

“Crash Bang supports sippy cup terrorists.”

“Up against the wall, sippy-cup mother!”

“hey Crash.. squinty eyes must be rubbing of on you over there.

My lazy eye can plainly see her actions 1 minute into the 2nd security tape. She opens the lid, dumps the substance, shakes the sippy cup, replaces the lid, grabs the stroller and trys to turn back.”

“How many hundreds of people walked by un-checked while these Mickey Mouse cops harassed this woman who was traveling with a baby?”

“I still say bill the individual airports for the TSA agents. Then inside security have a check point where you can file a complaint (heck even give out a card where you can e-file the complaint).

Then if the number of complaints reaches say 10% of the passengers that day the Airport gets its rotations (take offs and Landings) cut by a requisite amount.

The profit from an airport comes from the number of rotations allowed. So you go somewhere like Shartsfield in Atlanta and you cut their take offs and landings it hits them where they hurt.

If they want to privatize they are informed that they will be inspected and tested randomly throughout the year. Any violations will cost them
1. The price of all their employees going through a 10 day retraining program
2. The cost of hiring personnel from TSA to cover the gate while they have all their employees trained.

We all know that what happened on 9/11 will most likely NEVER happen again. Granted there are still the sheeple who will not intervene or will sit quietly and die. But there are WAAAAY to many instances of people interveneing. Heck an Air Marshal I know says his primary job is to protect the drunk idiot who tries to start something.”

“Wouldn't reversing the earths poles be simpler?”

“Should have arrested her and taken her baby away.”

“LOL..TSA the stories I love are the ones about the DEA agent (with approval to carry) going to the checkpoint WITH his .40 cal and 4 magazines of ammo.

He identifies himself they allow him through and are ...SCREENING HIS LUGGAGE...(LOL) one of the mental midgets pulls out a pair of Cuticle scissors....she says,"I am sorry but you could use these to take over an aircraft."

LOL....THANK GOD MOMMY IS PROTECTING US>”

“Interesting and timely article in Salon, written by an airline pilot:

...thousands of contract airport workers around the country -- the caterers, cabin cleaners, fuelers and cargo loaders who service the nation's airlines -- are subject only to occasional random screenings when they come to work. These are individuals with full access to aircraft, inside and out.

Why are pilots and flight attendants paraded through metal detectors and X-ray machines, but not cleaners and caterers? Not to sound snotty, but the fact that airline pilots, many of whom are former military fliers, and all of whom endured rigorous background checks prior to being hired, are required to take out their laptops and surrender their hobby knives, while an immigrant worker from Egypt or Morocco sidesteps the entire process and walks onto a plane unimpeded, nullifies almost everything our TSA minders have said and done since Sept. 11, 2001.

Link to story
last edited: 6/18/07 11:46:56 AM”

“
They really need to frisk the Moroccans for toenail clippers.

Decades ago when the IRA was blowing up Harrod's and Black September was killing Israeli athletes (nevermind the bombings in Israel...), it was stated many many times that our turn was coming -- that it was only a matter of time.  Everyone who said "the world changed after 9-11" needs to be put to work operating a push-mower.  They don't have the mental capacity to make change for a dollar.

Cheers ---

”

“Sit down and STFU, this website is going to Havana!!”

“and elsewhere in the news......More Baby Threats to National Security.........

Baby monitor picks up live NASA video

Natalie Meilinger holds her son Jack, 3 months, in their Palatine, Ill., home near a baby monitor that's receiving a transmission from the space shuttle this week.

PALATINE, Illinois (AP) — A mother of two in this suburb of Chicago does not have to turn on the news for an update on NASA's space mission.
She just flips on her baby monitor.

Since Sunday, Natalie Meilinger's baby monitor has been picking up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis.

"Whoever has a baby monitor knows what you'll usually see," said the elementary school science teacher. "No one would ever expect this."

Live video of the mission is available on NASA's website, so it is possible the monitor is picking up a signal from somewhere nearby.

It's not coming straight from the shuttle," NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean said. "People here think this is very interesting and you don't hear of it often — if at all."

Summer Infant, the monitor's manufacturer, is still investigating what could be causing the transmission, said communications director Cindy Barlow. She said she has never heard of anything similar happening.

"Not even close," she said. "Gotta love technology."

Meilinger silenced disbelieving co-workers by bringing in a video of the monitor to show her class on Tuesday, her students' last day of school. At home, 3-month-old Jack and 2-year-old Rachel do not quite understand what their parents are watching.

"I've been addicted to it and keep waiting to see what's next," Meilinger said.”

“All I could think of when I saw Marky Mark's little quip was the Movie Fifth Element...and the hijacking on the space cruise.....

marko I will handle the negotiation.”

“Those Ruskies are pretty slick!”

“Quote on Russian technology from a Russian General in 1984,"If our technology is so superior...why are Americans driving on the moon?"”

“But the pilots and flight attendants are checked publicly, thereby making us "feel" better even if it adds nada to the actual security of the flight.”