Big Sister Knows Who The Real Perps Are

A Camden, NJ cop on vacation with his developmentally-disabled son is told by TSA staff at the Philly airport to  remove the kid’s leg brace:

The Thomases were dumbfounded. “I told them he can’t walk without them on his own,” Bob Thomas said.

“He said, ‘He’ll need to take them off.’ ”

Ryan’s mother offered to walk him through the detector after they removed the braces, which are custom-made of metal and hardened plastic.

No, the screener replied. The boy had to walk on his own.

Leona Thomas said she was calm. Bob Thomas said he was starting to burn.

I was amazed to see that it worked.

They complied, and Leona went first, followed by Ryan, followed by Bob, so the boy wouldn’t be hurt if he fell. Ryan made it through.

By then, Bob Thomas was furious. He demanded to see a supervisor. The supervisor asked what was wrong.

This is normally the part of the story where TSA pulls the hapless traveller aside and throws him in jail.  Because everyone knows terrorists get angry at being told to jump through stupid hoops.

It helped that Mr. Thomas is a cop.

Thomas said he told the supervisor he was going to file a report, and at that point the man turned and walked away.

A Philadelphia police officer approached and asked what the problem was. Thomas said he identified himself and said he was a Camden officer. The Philadelphia officer suggested he calm down and enjoy his vacation.

Perhaps the 4-year-old boy was on a watch list of some kind? Having been born, he was obviously a pro-lifer and all…

15 thoughts on “Big Sister Knows Who The Real Perps Are

  1. And we’re giving these nincompoops access to classified information, apparently. Nah, nothing bad could happen with that….can’t see how it would.

    On the flip side, the total, complete incompetence around air travel has got to be the best thing that could have been done for the car business lately….

  2. I prefer Stranger in a Strange Land. As a Minnesota conservative I can relate. Or grok, as the case may be.

  3. It would have been acceptable if the kid’s name was Ali Abdullahi, though, right?

    As a parent? The idea sounds noxious.

    But if you obey the bumpersticker “WWEAD?” (“What would El Al do?”), one would remember that while there’ve been zero recorded incidents of anglos using their babies to smuggle bombs (there WAS an IRA woman who pretended to be pregnant to smuggle a bomb onto an El Al jet – and El Al busted her), among Moslem radicals it’s actually a recognized tactic. Not every Moslem baby, of course; El Al doesn’t blindly put every Arab through the wringer. But if the parents meet the “profile” criteria, and if the gate inspector thinks it’s worth a look, then yes. El Al would give young Ali a going-over.

    Remember that El Al doesn’t rely on technology to find terrorists; it’s more a matter of psychology and experience. So it’d be less a matter of “policy says you make the kid walk through the scanner”, and more “let’s get to the bottom of this”.

  4. A muslin gets through security with a bomb in his Depends but a 4 year old with a bum leg gets the heavy treatment? Absolute, mindless BS. No excuse for this kind of nonsense……NONE!

  5. Well, swiftee has suggested in these comments that muslims not be allowed to fly, and no one bothered to call him on it, so I figured you guys were OK with that idea.

  6. I can see taking the braces off and looking at them, especially if the kid’s name is Ali Abdullahi, but forcing a crippled kid to walk through the metal detector–when they have handheld versions?

    Cripes.

  7. I never said that….but I’m sure that’s what you wrote down.

    Even off duty, you just can’t stop lying, can you stool?

    (Just watch…next, out comes the “throw down” quote.)

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