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Terror on the Tarmac
November 20, 2007 2:55 AM
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By Annie Jacobsen Jerry Wynn, of Jacksonville, Florida, considers himself a good American citizen. He believes the War on Terror to be real and important and he’s willing to accept certain inconveniences when he flies on commercial planes. He’s got two adorable kids whom he coaches at sports on the weekend. He thinks of their safety, and the safety of his wife, whenever any of them fly. But what happened to Jerry Wynn on American Eagle Flight 4518 on September 21,  The last thing airline Jerry Wynn did before American Eagle Flight 4518 took off from Jacksonville to Raleigh-Durham, was take a photograph of himself with his cell phone and send it to his wife and two young kids. “Bye, I love you,” he wrote in an accompanying text message. The wife and kids were on a separate flight, out to California, to see grandparents there. It was 7:10 p.m. on a Friday night. Wynn, a field tech supervisor for a heavy equipment dealership in Jacksonville, was headed to North Carolina to help his brother move house. Wynn had a funny feeling about the commuter flight he was about to take because there was an odd-acting man sitting two rows ahead of him. Wynn had observed this man earlier at the airport, once in the TSA security line, and once in the men’s room adjacent to the gate. Both times, Wynn explained, “the guy was acting strange. He was rough looking, kind of like a hippie traveler, a 60-year old white male. He hadn’t shaven in a week. He was acting suspicious, he was real antsy. He had on linen clothing and house slippers—not normal shoes for a flight. Both times, I thought to myself, ‘I hope that guy is not on my flight.’” But as it turned out, the man was on Wynn’s flight. And Wynn noticed the man’s behavior a third time, as the 27 passengers for Flight 4518 were boarding the aircraft. “The plane was so small that the [jet bridge] didn’t reach the gate. We had to walk out on the tarmac and up some stairs to get on the plane. The [flight crew] did a courtesy check, so passengers didn’t have to carry their personal carry-on [bags] onto the plane. Well, the strange man had a large backpack and he insisted on carrying it on to the plane himself,” Wynn explained. The flight left Jacksonville without event. But once the aircraft was in the air, a series of strange events occurred. “The guy went back and forth into the bathroom several times. Then he went into the overheard bin, pulled down his backpack, pulled out a poncho and put that on. The poncho had a hood and he flipped that up. Then he reached into the backpack again, took out a scarf and wrapped that around his head so it covered his mouth area. Now, you couldn’t see his face. You could only see his eyes.” Jerry looked around the plane and made eye-contact with a few other passengers. “This girl sitting behind me gives me the look like something’s wrong. I nod. The masked guy sits back down and I think to myself, this doesn’t feel right,” Jerry explained. Wynn decided to moves seats so he could observe the man from across the aisle. “I was more curious than anything else at that point,” Wynn said. “But then the man got up, wearing the mask thing, and pulled something out of his pocket which was really odd-looking. It was six inches long and three or four inches wide. It was narrowed down at the handle. It was greenish-tan. I suppose, looking back, someone could have mistaken it for a grenade.” Which, FBI Special Agent Newsom Summerlin said in an interview, is exactly what happened. “The flight attendant believed this passenger was in possession of some kind of improvised explosive device,” Summerlin said. The flight attendant notified the captain of the aircraft who, according to my interview with TSA Spokesman Christopher White, requested to make an emergency landing. What Jerry Wynn didn’t know was that the flight attendant identified Jerry Wynn as the accomplice to the man with the alleged explosive device. The Good Samaritan who had been attempting to keep an eye on the strange passenger immediately became a terror suspect. The Department of Homeland Security was now on high alert. Jerry Wynn only knew what was happening on the plane. He continued to watch the man. “The man began rubbing his head with the unidentified object. Other passengers began to get uncomfortable,” Wynn explained. “I was looking at the people in front of me and behind me, everybody was watching the man in the hood. The woman directly behind me whispered to me, ‘That’s strange.’” Suddenly, the plane began a rapid descent. “We were descending real fast and I mean real fast,” Wynn said. “No, ‘fasten your seatbelts,’ no ‘flight attendants prepare for landing,’ nothing! Next thing I knew, bam! There’s this bump and we’re on the runway!” On the ground in Herndon, Virginia, the Homeland Security machine was in full swing. TSAs Command and Control center, the Transportation Security Operations Center (TSOC) was coordinating with at least four federal agencies. “TSOC is run by TSA and coordinates with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). TSOC also communicates with the FBI,” TSA Spokesman Christopher White clarified in our interview. “The pilot of Flight 4518 had requested to make an emergency landing. We [i.e. TSA] coordinated in the air. The FBI took jurisdiction on the ground,” said White. Jerry Wynn explained what was happening on the plane: “The plane taxied down the runway for sometime. We kept taxi-ing until finally, we were way out in the woods. There was not a word over the P.A. Not a word from the stewardess or the pilot. Not a thing. I looked out the windows, it was really dark. We were in the woods! I spoke to a passenger behind me, who told me she flew the route a lot. She said, ‘this is really strange.’ Finally, the pilot did a U-Turn and said, ‘We’re next up to taxi in.’ It was absurd. You could tell he was lying. We were so far out in the woods!” According to TSA spokesman Christopher White, American Eagle Flight 4518 “sat on the remote area of the runway for about an hour.” According to Wynn, after about forty minutes, the pilot announced the delay was caused by a security issue inside the airport. Wynn telephoned his brother who was waiting for him inside the airport. Wynn’s brother said that according to airport officials, the security issue involved Wynn’s plane. Wynn called his wife. “I told her I didn’t know what was going on, but I was going to help in anyway I could. When I said good-bye, it was one of those tough moments. I thought, this is for real. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to any of us on that plane.” What follows is Jerry Wynn’s exclusive, first person account of what happened next Raleigh-Durham Airport: “All of a sudden, boom! There were spotlights all around the plane! FBI, SWAT, teams of men with their rifles pointed at the plane. We were surrounded. I thought, this is it. A little girl behind me screamed. I thought, it’s the guy in the mask! If he makes a move, what do I do? Do I grab him? As I was thinking this, the door of the plane opens up. One guy, I think he was an FBI agent, came on board and said, ‘we have a security issue. Come out one at a time.’ This little girl was crying and I could see behind me, the mother was trying to calm her daughter down. As I made my way down the aisle and turned left out the door of the plane, I thought, Thank God I’m alive. Suddenly, all the guns were on me! It was surreal. They were all shouting at me, screaming, ‘Move and we’ll blow you fu——- head off!” I thought, Oh, my God, they think it’s me! The next thing I knew, I was face down on the tarmac. They’d cuffed me and I was lying there with my pants down. My shirt was up. I looked up and I saw four guys with their guns at me. I was being held at gunpoint. Their rifle butts were shaking and they were screaming, screaming, ‘Don’t move or we will blow you fu——- head off!’ I looked to my right and one guy had a pistol to my head. All the guns were shaking. They were screaming so many four letter words at me, finally I just said, ‘Please don’t shoot me on accident.’ I kept saying that. I thought, if I sneeze, they’re going to shoot me. They had me on the ground, cuffed, pants down, for I don’t know how long. Ten more minutes, twenty more minutes? The cuffs hurt. My pants were down, my socks and shoes were gone. My shirt was ripped and up off my back. The guns were on me, the rifle butts were so close to my head. My arms were pinched back, jacked-up behind me because the cuffs are super tight. They were shouting, shouting, ‘One move and I’ll blow your f——— head off!’ The guys with the rifles kept shouting that they were going to kill me if I moved. They picked me up and dragged me toward the car. I was still surrounded and the guns were all still at my head. They had me under both armpits and they shoved me in the car. I was in the middle of the seat, hunched over. My arms were numb and tingling. I looked around. There were tons of people on cell phones. Everyone was talking to somebody. Everybody had somebody they were communicating with on the phone. A convoy of vehicles took me to the airport. I had no shoes on. I felt like a terrorist. I felt awful. I’d been handcuffed for what seemed like forever. No one told me what was going on. In the airport, they walked me into this very small room. It was about 7’ x 10’. There was a desk and three chairs and the mirror. The infamous one-way glass. They started asking me all kinds of questions. ‘How do you know that guy?’ They keep saying and I said I don’t know him. They kept asking that question again and again. It was surreal. There were so many strange questions, I can’t remember them. They had pictures of my children—pictures I keep in my wallet. They were showing me pictures of my son in his football uniform and my daughter in her soccer uniform: ‘Who are these people,’ they asked me. I said ‘my children.’ They wanted to know when their birthdays were. I could barely remember anything. Whatever I said, they didn’t believe me. ‘How do you know the guy on the plane?’ They kept asking over and over again. One of the FBI agents slid me this piece of paper. ‘These are your Miranda rights,’ he said. ‘Sign it.’ So I asked him, ‘Am I under arrest?’ He didn’t say anything. No smile, no nothing. He handed me a pen. He said, ‘we are going to move your handcuffs so you can sign. If you make any false move, it will be the last move you make.’ I signed the paper and then it was back to the questions. I told and re-told the story. Back to the pictures of my kids. ‘How do you know these people?’ That kind of thing. It went on like this until 2:00 a.m. My arms hurt. My wrists ached. I was shoeless. Nervous. My jaw locked up. When I tried stretching my jaw. one of them said, “What are you doing?’ and waved his gun. Finally they left. They were gone for 30 minutes. Then they came back. They didn’t say much. Then one just said, ‘all right, stand up.’ They took off the handcuffs and then they just left the room. I sat there for ten or fifteen more minutes. Finally, the same two FBI agents came back. ‘You can go,’ one of them said. I said, ‘I can go? I can’t go. I don’t have my shoes, my wallet or my phone.’ One of them said, ‘Oh, okay.’ So they went and came back. ‘Here’s your stuff,’ they told me. There was a policeman with them. One of the FBI guys said, ‘This officer will talk you to your brother.’ That was it. No, ‘we’re sorry for threatening your life.’ No explanation about why they did what they did. No nothing. All they said was, ‘This officer will take you to your brother.’ The thing that really gets me is that no one told me why I went through what I went through for that whole time. Still to this day, I can’t get an answer. Not a letter, not a phone call, not from anyone at the FBI. They almost killed me. That’s how I see it. When I was there coming off that plane—coming down those stairs with all those rifle barrels pointed at me—if I’d have flinched, if I’d have cramped, if I’d have tripped as I was being pulled down those stairs? They would have shot me. Do you know how many times they told me that, for sure?” When he finished his account, Wynn was asked “if the FBI had explained to you what happened, and why it happened, would you be talking to me, a reporter, about any of this?” “Absolutely not,” Wynn said. “If they’d have just told me why I went through what I went through, if they’d have said ‘we’re sorry, it was all a mistake,’ I would have understood. To be honest, all they had to do was buy me a beer. Sit me down and say, ‘we’re sorry we did what we did.’ This is because I understand there is a war on terror going on. I’m a good citizen. That’s why I changed seats on the plane, so I could keep an eye on that [masked] man, who did what he did. Am I going to think twice before I ever try and do my part again? Am I ever going to fly again? No, I doubt it. I’m not going to because from my perspective, you do that and you could almost die. I did not feel like a citizen, I felt like a terrorist. Honestly, I feel like I’m lucky I’m not dead.” Special Agent Newsom Summerlin, the lead FBI agent handling press about the incident, was asked about Wynn’s account. All Summerlin would say was, “The FBI considers the matter resolved.” Summerlin was informed that Jerry Wynn disagrees. That until he gets some answers, Jerry Wynn doesn’t consider the matter resolved. “That’s all the FBI has to say,” Special Agent Summerlin said. What would you have to say if this happened to you? Six federal agents, two local law enforcement agents, and three airport officials were interviewed for this report, to no avail. One month after his experience, Jerry Wynn contacted the ACLU for legal assistance. Here’s what the ACLU had to say: “We have reviewed your complaint and regret to inform you that the ACLU of Florida declines to offer you legal assistance. Due to our limited resources, we cannot take all civil liberties cases brought to our attention, and we must concentrate our resources where they are most needed.” Annie Jacobsen writes about aviation security and homeland security for a variety of newspapers, magazines and blogs. She is the author of the book, Terror in The Skies, Why 9/11 Could Happen Again. ———
Return to Pajamas Media homepage Related PJM LinksOK, But Just How Did They Get A Camel Past Security ?War on Terror? "There is No War on Terror."New Terror Wave ThreatenedAIRBUS A380, YOU ARE CLEAR TO LANDWas bin Laden's 'Fake Beard' Video Genuine?The War of the WordsLatest PJM ExclusivesPalin?s Debate Reviews Are In ? Who To Vote For: Genial Warrior or Ivy League Messiah? The Media Discovers the Obama-Ayers Relationship O.J. Finally Found Guilty British Media Snobs Look Down Their Noses at Palin Bailout Saga Proves that Elites Don?t Care What We ThinkComments (52)fgmorley :OmegaPaladin :If our soldiers capture an Iraqi civilian for being linked with terrorists and put him under arrest, he is always treated better than this. There, it is considered important to apologize for wrongful actions to hold the hearts and minds of the populace. The ACLU is disgusting. They are apparently too busy fighting against EVIL BUSH!!!! to help an innocent citizen. Eric :The ACLU can find the time and resources to sue public schools over prayer and Christmas but can't find the resources to address a REAL civil rights violation? I guess the suffering of a white man doesn't fit their socialist, atheist narrative. Pathetic. Smarty :Of course the ACLU cannot take the case, they are busy defending the freakazoid that actually WAS the threat. Mr Wynn, by showing that he was willing to resist, shames the cowards at the ACLU, so they will not serve him. lindajo :Unbelievable story...I would want answers too. And an apology would be nice. What happened to the strange guy with the mask and the threatening object? Alesian_siege :In response to fgmorley Please read the article. Blame FBI for Mr. Wynn's treatment. The Flight Crew reported both the other gentleman and Mr. Wynn as suspicious, then the FBI took over. Chip :ACLU leadership is mostly Islamists now. Unless you're an actual terrorist they're not interested in helping you. Kevin :It's amazing how many people run to the ACLU when they have a problem with the government. All types too. Right wingers, christian conservatives, racists, etc. And often for petty reasons. The ACLU is swamped with these type of complaints. Kevin :That would have totally sucked if it happened to you, but it sounded to me like they did the right things right up until the end when they didn't apologize. Better safe than sorry, FBI, but man up to your mistakes. Uncle Jimbo :Other than the lack of an apology and the pathetic need for all cops/agents to yell at the same time, I see no problem. Sometimes things just suck. Cordially, Uncle J retro :FBI = Fumbling Bumbling Idiots But don't forget, "we're from the Government. We're here to help you." austin :Its the FAA until the doors open, then its the FBI. Did that plane site on the runway for an hour before the doors opened? And what's the deal with guns pointed at passengers? A two-man entry to talk to the passengers then a controlled deplaning is best. Not a lot to be proud of. Jack :As much as I disagree with the ACLU in its mission and their clients, they are not the problem here - it is TSA, Homeland Security, American Eagle and the FBI. If Jerry is right about 50% of what happened and the rhetoric used then it is a serious indictment as to the character, psyche and maturity of our national security apparatus and its personnel. I would want to have someone in command deal with that by tightening recruiting, vetting and training those people. The reason our military handles these things better is their discipline and training. It sounds like we have a bunch of Rambo wannabes with the IQ's and discipline of redneck hillbillies than a sophisticated policing force. Obbop :The federal government, its bureaucracies and bureaucrats, the jack-booted thugs et al are a greather threat to our freedomd than all foreign terrorists lumped together. Michael :Had this been me, I would have started calling Congress-critters until I got someone interested. Unfortunately, I couldn't call my own reps: Hillary, Shumer, and Hall, for the obvious reason. Michael :Another thing I would have done differently would have been to notify the flight attendant that the freak was acting, well, like a freak. From the narrative, it is obvious that he wasn't the only passenger who was thinking this. I don't blame the flight attendent for noting him as suspicious as he changed his seat. Had he done this after signalling his intentions to the flight attendant, maybe this would not have happened. In_Awe :A couple years ago I boarded a plane in KC and saw in the bin over my seat a metal corkscrew wine bottle opener with a short bladed knife attached. Since I was about 10 rows back, I made eye contact with a man still coming down the aisle and asked him to give it to the flight attendent, which he did. I gave it no more thought until we missed our departure time and some security people came on board. They went up and down the aisle several times until they stopped next to me and told me to keep my hands in sight and come quietly with them. As we hit the jetway there were additional security types and the cockpit crew (big and burly guys)who surrounded me and demended my wallet. It was handed to someone who ran up the jetway with it. Then in an intimidating tone they demended to know why I had brought a weapon on board, if I had any accomplices, how I snuck it through security, etc. I couldn't believe it since 45 minutes earlier I had been lucky enough to be tapped for a manual search of me and my carry-on luggage when I entered the terminal security process. After repeating my story several times, I insisted that they talk with the man seated across the aisle from me who had seen what I did and shared my concern that the corkscrew was found in the bin after the planed had been cleaned. They finally did that and confirmed my story, but it wasn't until the man returned with my wallet and said that they had entered me into the domestic and international terorist database and didn't get a hit that they let me return to my seat. While on the jetway it seemed that at least two people were always demanding information from me at the same time. It was more than a bit disturbing trying to keep up with it while simultaneously wondering how the good guy was the one in the hot seat. After we left and reached flying altitude, the flight attendent came over, apologized and said that their union had unsuccessfully been trying to force the airlines to ban corkscrews from airplanes - but they were still legal to have because they were required for opening bottles of wine in first class cabins! Sweet. Douglas :The TSA, FBI and local authorities act like jack booted thugs and the only thing you can do is rail on the ACLU? Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Benjamin Franklin (American) Capitalist Infidel :"It sounds like we have a bunch of Rambo wannabes with the IQ's and discipline of redneck hillbillies than a sophisticated policing force." It sounds like we have a bunch of Rambo wannabes with the IQ's and discipline of yankee cowards than a sophisticated policing force. There, fixed it for ya. Jack Denver :Just saw today on CNN one of the reporters mentioned that TSA had seized his deodorant because it was a 3.1 ounce bottle (only 3 ounces permitted). Yeah, that'll keep us safe, for sure the seizure was a major contribution to national security. Is there something about working for the government that causes people to lose all common sense and decency? Knowing you act in the name of the People makes you feel empowered to do things you would be embarrassed to do on your own. huxley :Is there anyone or any organization we can write to express our displeasure with Jerry Wynn's treatment? Louis Santacroce :Here's an idea that no one will use because it requires all of us to act together, and God help us if we ever do that: REFUSE TO FLY! Sure, precautions must be taken in the face of terrorism; but, have you noticed that Israel, which has had to deal with this problem a lot longer than we have, manages to get the job done without terrorizing innocent people in the process? We CAN stop this; all we have to do is REFUSE TO FLY! All of the FBI agents and SWAT teams in America can't FORCE us to fly. When the airlines REALLY face bankruptcy (not the kind that they whined about immediately post-911; that was just a manufactured emergency that allowed them to raise fares, like the manufactured energy crisis of the 70's that allowed the energy companies to raise rates), they will force the government to stop using the Rambo movies as proceedural manuals, and figure out a way to keep people safe without terrorizing them in the process. This will never happen, though, because the one thing we Americans can't do is hang together. Because of that, as someone once said, we will hang seperately. Paul A' Barge :Do all of you really want to know who is to blame here? It is the Islamic Fascists who are the problem. Everything else, including this poor man's unfortunate experience is a response to the real problem. That, and a symptom of poor solutions to that problem. Focus on the problem. Marta :I don't think your beef is with the FBI. I would make it my business to find the stewardess who identified you as an accomplice and sue the crap out of her. Alec Rawls :What is this guy complaining about? He was not harmed in any way. If a stewardess mistook me for a terrorist, this is exactly how I SHOULD be treated. Once the matter was cleared up, he was let go. And he wants to file suit? That's disgusting. It gives the lie to the claim that: "He believes the War on Terror to be real and important and he’s willing to accept certain inconveniences when he flies on commercial planes." No, he is not willing to accept the most obvious inconveniences, like being questioned when he acts in a way that makes a stewardess think he is a terrorist! He ought to re-examine his own behavior. If you see a person on an airplane wrapping their face in a mask, you alert the crew. You don't quietly go sit next to him so that the crew thinks you are with him. Idiot. Rex Pad :This essay reminded me of my own experience with the FBI. About eight years ago I was introduced to ICQ chat room. One morning, I was hailed by a total stranger who wanted to chat with me. It turned out to be a high school girl. I was not too keen because I was not about to waste my time with a kid. However, the child got offended and in a very nasty way told me to just go see her own website. When I visited her own webpage, I was horrified. It was so full of violent images. I mean maimed, mutilated bodies on one page. Images of people hannging by the neck in the next. Graphics of blood flowing. There were essays the girl had written aboout how she is going to kill her schoolmates and teachers and also how she hates her parents etc. This was a few weeks after Columbine. I was shocked like hell. Fearing that some tragedy is about to take place, I quickly scoured the telephone directory for the local FBI office in Phoenix/Tempe area. After phone tag of almost two hours, I finally was able to talk to an agent. What shocked me was even before I said a word, he began grilling me as if I was a suspect. Each time I tried to make him understand he would cut me off and would continue with his grilling. Finally aboout an hour of this drama (I was already on the phone for almost three hours now), he asked me where the girl's location was. Quickly I went back to ICQ and got the location. When I told him, his statement shocked the hell out of me. He said the location is in another state and his office would not allow long distance call. He told me to call the FBI office in that location and see if I can report to them. Tax dollars at work here for sure. I just could not believe what I am hearing. This is the FBI for heaven sake. Disappointed, I asked to speak to his supervisor in the hope that some sanity would prevail. At first the agent refused. After I repeated a few times, he finally connected me to another agent presumably his supervisor. Again, I was grilled as if I was a guilty party. I gave him the girl's website so that he can see for himself. Man, I was running out of steam already. It was almost five hours since this phone tag began. When he saw the website (very reluctantly I would presume),he mentioned that the website looks suspicious and asked me how to do internet search. What the hell do they teach these guys at the academy? I was thinking with all their trainings and gizmos at their disposal, they would easily get to the root of the problem. My enthusiastic spirit was close to a dead end by then. In the end, this agent said I had to get in touch with the Phoenix Police Department. Oh my God. I was already tired. I was hungry. It was close to mid night and I gave up. I just could not believe this nonsense. I was dejected. All the super dooper FBI prowess went out the window. I was deeply saddened. I was really pissed off too. This was supposed to be a super security outfit. Their lack of morale and spirit was shinning through. I don't think I want to deal with them after that episode. That was in 1998. About three years later 9/11 happened. I was not surprised to read about theirs and the CIA's amateurish blunder in the media. What was real shocking was that one of the Mofo who did 9/11 was for a time living in Phoenix area. I am still in shock after all these years. Carol :So, what happened to the guy that was threatening? wuzrobbd :Alec Rawls Nov 20, 2007 02:15 PM Said it perfectly. Do you other people READ what you write? You sound like Kossacks. Yeah, it sucked. No, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.Yes, I would be shaken up as well. agape, francesca :The most terrifying part of this to me was that the men who were holding guns on him had shaking hands! They really would have killed him if he had moved a muscle. What if he had sneezed? Think about that. Kevin R.C. 'Hognose' O'Brien :Some comments: 1. Hard to fault American Eagle. Nobody could tell what was on Mr Wynn's mind. 2. Since we haven't heard anything about the oddball, odds (no pun intended) are he was just an oddball. 3. Mr Wynn was right to be frightened. Maybe I have high standards, but from what I have seen, FBI agents are not safe and proficient firearms handlers. 4. FBI's penchant for secrecy and insistence on not recording interviews or interrogations means that most of these sorts of "investigation" can be twisted. Instead FBI uses its Form 302 to, after the fact, record agents' impressions of the interview. Naturally the 302 often winds up being more incriminating than anything the suspect actually said. A lot of wacko conspiracy theories get started, or grow legs, because the FBI systematically mishandles evidence in this way. 5. Lack of response from an FBI flack is the norm. The flack can't tell because the flack doesn't know anything, so he pretends it's a big secret. It is, even from him. J :I wouldn't want to go through what Jerry Wynn went through, but...when the FBI has been told you have or may have a grenade, how, exactly, are they supposed to react? And at what point should they let their guard down? "find the stewardess who identified you as an accomplice and sue the crap out of her" Yes, intimidating airline personnel into keeping their mouth shut when they see something suspicious is a great idea. There certainly are problems with airline security, but I'm with robb on this one - the vast majority of the complaints I hear boil down to "how could they suspect me?". Bob :Mr. Wynn brought it upon himself. If he would have reported the weirdo to a flight attendant and then offered to sit near him, he would have been a hero and we would not be listening to his plight. His stupid actions caused it. It sucks to be him. Next time, work with the flight attendants, they'll welcome the help in such a situation. Don't make them think you are part of the problem.
melinwy
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The ACLU doesn't have problems representing the bad guys though, do they? This poor guy is an extreme example of what I have read about before....TSA turning a blind eye towards suspicious characters, but targeting grandmas, etc., etc. They seem to give the benefit of the doubt to Imams, but not a regular Joe American type.
Nov 20, 2007 03:31 AM