Bob CollinsIs John Tyner the new Rosa Parks or just a guy looking for his 15 minutes of fame?
His story of his refusal to subject himself to a TSA search at the airport in San Diego, has been zipping across the Internet since the incident last Friday morning.
He writes on his blog that he thought San Diego had not yet deployed the new scanners, which some say are a bit too revealing for them. But when he got to the airport, he found the new scanners were in use and he refused.
After setting my things on a table, he turned to me and began to explain that he was going to do a “standard” pat down. (I thought to myself, “great, not one of those gropings like I’ve been reading about”.) After he described, the pat down, I realized that he intended to touch my groin. After he finished his description but before he started the pat down, I looked him straight in the eye and said, “if you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.” He, a bit taken aback, informed me that he would have to involve his supervisor because of my comment.
He got his money back for the airline ticket and was leaving the airport when a security official said it would be against the law to start a security screening without finishing it, even though he’d given up his intention to fly.
He used his phone to tape the audio.
In a later post, Mr. Tyner denied he intended to pick a fight with the TSA, but the 3,000 comments on his blog certainly suggest that the airport screening area may be the next battleground in a fight against the long hand of the government.
Meanwhile, two large pilots unions are telling their members not to use the new full-body scanners.
