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Subscribe to RSSUPDATED: Jan. 11, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. PST
A passenger arriving at Sacramento International Airport on Tuesday was subdued with a taser after refusing to pass through security screening again in order to retrieve an item left behind on his plane, The Sacramento Bee reports.
Edwin Barton, 26, was taken to a local hospital for evaluation following a brief struggle with law enforcement, according to Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos. Barton was later taken to Sacramento County Main Jail and booked on charges of resisting and obstructing law enforcement and intentionally avoiding submission to airport security screening.
The passenger exited his plane around 1:30 p.m., Ramos told the newspaper, and left the airport's secure area on his way to baggage claim. He then reportedly tried to return to his plane, and at the security checkpoint told Transportation Security Administration agents that he had forgotten an item.
A TSA agent would not allow the man to re-enter the secure area but instead directed him to get a pass at the ticket counter, Ramos said. The passenger reportedly returned to the security checkpoint with a pass but refused to let his bag be screened, and an argument ensued.
"Prior to finishing the screening process, Barton attempted to pass the security checkpoint and enter a secure area of the terminal," according to a press release from the Sheriff's department. "In an effort to maintain the security of the terminal, a Sheriff’s deputy who was monitoring the checkpoint attempted to physically restrain Barton from proceeding any further. Barton broke away from the deputy’s grasp and began to run past the security checkpoint.
"The deputy deployed his taser in an effort to gain compliance from Barton. Barton fell to the ground, but then attempted to pull the taser barbs off of him as he continued to refuse the deputy’s orders to stop. The deputy re-deployed the taser and summoned assistance from other officers."
No word on the passenger's airline or what item he left behind.
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now we know why our airport security is nuts
If you want a secure zone, EVERYTHING MUST go through screening. The food, water, beverages, etc. brought in are screened. If he left something inside the secure zone, he MUST be screened, regardless. Even the security people working inside the secure zone go through screening.
Plain and simple (he, however, was mostly just simple...)
Yes, stupid people don't want to comply and can't follow directions.
The guy was trying to retrieve the bomb he accidentally left on the wrong plane. Silly terrorist.
It just hit me. The headline and story say "tasers" as in plural. Why more than one taser?
"Don't taze me bro!"
Electrifying story.
not once but twice.
Julie, "You're once, twice, three times.........they tased me." -Lionel Ritchey
And I belive Taser should be capitalized as it's the name of a specific company as well as the product. The generic product is a stun gun. Kinda like Xerox, Kleenex, Star Wars, Jello....
It was three times. Twice more when he was already down, for trying to remove the barbs.
OK a Mitch sing-along...
One, Twice, three times a shocker...
How about, "Bar bar bar.....bar barbed my glans. Bar bar bar........bar barbed my glans."? "I crapped my paaaaaaants, they barbed my glans...."
Why do so few people use the "reasonable man's litmus test" when conducting themselves in public?
Nitwit...
Congratulations! You're today's example of missing the forest for the trees!
Consider: this individual had already been screened when he originally got on the plane, prior to arriving at his destination. This includes any baggage he had on his person, or retrieved from baggage claim.
This individual did comply with the request to get a pass, but, reasonably, was upset about having to be re-screened again, after his baggage had been previously screened. This individual was not attempting to board an aircraft, but simply get to the terminal before the aircraft left again, presumably to ask the gate agent to retrieve his forgotten item.
The "reasonable man's litmus test" would have been to let the individual go to the gate, and call ahead to the gate agent to let them know he was not to board, but that he needed someone to retireve his item.
Instead, the TSA tasered the individual. Now, does the individual bear some responsibility? If his actions escalated the situation to the point where he was taser, then certainly. However, the TSA also bears responsibility for being unreasonable.
"the TSA also bears responsibility for being unreasonable"
how are they being unreasonable? don't get me wrong... i think the tsa is a joke. but in this one instance, they actually got it right. they don't know who this guy is. so he shows up with a pass... big deal. all it means is that he doesn't need a boarding pass to get past security. BUT HE DOES NEED TO BE SCREENED AGAIN.
for one thing, he's now got a bag with him. a bag that he refuses to be screened. how is that not suspicious?
for another, it doesn't specifically say the tsa tasered him. in fact, i'm not sure they CAN taser anyone. the article says 'nearby deputies'. that, to me, means an officer. a police officer.
and finally, do you really think a boarding agent will remember that some guy is not to get on the plane? just consider, for one second, that if he's got something planned, a plane may not be his target. maybe he's got something that he wants to set off in the terminal itself. so much for telling a boarding agent to not let him on a plane, thinking that 'that's secure enough'... you've just potentially allowed something dangerous to get past security.
witchdoc is right. this guy screwed up.
Several times? Once makes you fall down and scream. Several is because the deputies think its funny.
or they only got one dart in.
or he was wearing heavy clothing.
or he was on something, which could explain his behavior.
or the batteries in one of the tasers were low or dead.
or any number of reasons, including the deputies decided to have a little fun.
Digitalnoise, Go back and read the article agin....It clearly states that deputies tasered the man not the TSA. The TSA does not carry tasers nor are they deputies. Law enforcement officials felt that this man needed to be tasered and they probably were correct. It's easy to blame the TSA for everything, but it was not them this time.
digitalnoise - Nope, you are.
You missed the point that he left the secure area into a non-secure area and then wanted to return to the secure area. By doing this, he made himself not secure again and thus had to be searched because he could have picked up a prohibited item while he was in the non-secure area. By not searching him, TSA would have let a non-secure person into a secure area and thus invalidated the security of the area.
Also it was sheriff deputies that tasered him, not TSA.
We have the perfect example of why and how the "reasonable mans litmus test" fails in Digitalnoises post.
Sorry digital, if he left the TSA agents' sight, they don't know if he maybe planned something all a long and had an accomplice ready to hand him a destructive item that he could carry back onto the plane and then leave it there. His excuse of 'oh I was just on it' would be an excellent way to circumvent security if they didn't rescreen him. Far fetched, maybe, but they can't take the chance. If they didn't screen him again and then somethign happened, you'd probaby be like 'Wtf!?!" and calling for blood. If you look through the news over the past 30 years, every day someone somewhere is trying something nefarious -- not in a traveling situation per se, but someone is always scheming in some form or another, which is why we have to go through these efforts.
At the end of the day, they had the authority to tell him to rescreen, he chose to be a dumbass, and he paid the price. No tears shed here. Next time he should comply or choose a different mode of transportation. Or he can contact his congressperson and try to get the laws rewritten.
Yet another entitled personage who thinks the law doesn't apply to him because he's so important. I hope one of the Taser probes lodged in his testicles.
if the bag was on the plane already, then it had already passed through security. did anyone else have to have their carry-on scanned again when they came off the plane? probably not. this sounds like a waste of time over some sort of authority complex suffered by the tsa. perhaps when the man recovers he will sue for discrimination and wrongful assault.......the tsa says we must screen bags before taking them on the plane. i am not aware of any law that says we must submit them for a security scan to be able to take them back offf the plane once we reach our destination. when my son accidentaly left his bag on the plane, all we had to do was let someone know, and they sent an airline attendant to retrieve it. there was no additional screening required.
did you read the entire story? i suppose msnbc could have gone back and edited the original version (which is on par with their methods), but the way i read it was that he'd already gotten off the plane and left the secure area. it doesn't say he left with a bag, only that he tried to get past security with one. still, it doesn't matter. once you leave the secure area, you HAVE to go through security again. we all do. for all anyone knows, he went to a car, picked up a bomb and had it in his bag. for once, the tsa did the right thing by making him go through security all over again.
you do something over and over and you're bound to get it right at least once.
and all he had to do was talk to the ticket agent of the airline, they would have called up to the gate and retrieved the item for him. I am totally agaisnt TSA and the way it works today (just another money sucking bureaucratic blackhole that doesn't do anything to actually promote real security) but dude, unfortunately you gotta play by the rules and there were certainly better ways to handle this. I don't blame the deputies for tasing the guy. If I had been in line and this ahole was holding things up I would probably tase him myself.
Did Alec Baldwin forget his I-phone on the plane?
Sounds like the idiot asked for it. Can't imagine what would be so important that he would risk arrest to go back and get it. Or what was in his bag that he wouldn't let it be screened. Ten to one says in a follow up story, we find out that he was up to something.
When he went to the ticket counter to get the pass, he should have had them call back to the airline people at the gate to go check his seat. They might have retrieved his item for him and he wouldn't have needed to go back to the plane at all.
He had nothing in his bag. And his ticket to take the bus two hours away was what he forgot. He's missing now. Thanks for your two cents, genius.
I know what this jerk left on the plane!!! It was his brain!
Or his bus ticket. Same thing, though, right?
This makes no sense. The proper procedure is for the airline to retrieve the item and bring it to the passenger. This was the case before 911, but admittedly it is frequently not followed.
Prior to 911 I had a case where I forgot a novel I was reading, and had left it in the seat pocket. I returned to the gate where they told me I could board the plan (now I had no ticket to show them and was not asked for one), as I was attempting to exit the plane, I found the door locked, and the captain instructing everyone to fasten their seatbelts!
After 911 I had my wallet fall out of my pocket on my seat. Did not realize it until I reached bag claim. I was told to get a pass...., but when I got to the gate, I was told the attendant at the counter had already contacted them and that my wallet was waiting for me at bag claim.
Oh Buddy
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah
This is my brother, Ed. Due to them tasing him three times with his epilepsy, his brain is most likely fried. They released him from the jail this morning and nobody has seen nor heard from him since.
All of this bull@!$%# for my brother to go missing in a completely new city. Excellent, TSA. You accomplished nothing.
Actually they did accomplish something......So long Ed!!
Trying to re-enter a secure airport area without being checked, running away from the police when they attempted to subdue him, trying to remove the Taser barbs and run away again - your brother is a real piece of work and got exactly what he deserved. He's lucky he didn't get shot with lead bullets. And if he is so physically fragile, why weren't you there to help him travel? Physically fragile people shouldn't struggle with the police - they're always going to come out second best (if they're lucky) or dead (if they're not).
Last time I checked, epilepsy does not cause a person to behave irrationally, fail to follow instructions, refuse the lawful orders of police or federal agents, and resist arrest. This is the type of behavior that can get a person on the NO-FLY LIST for life.
Most airlines would have an employee (gate agent, flight attendant, etc.) check for a forgotten item and bring it out of the secure area if found. They need to know the flight number, seat number, and description/location of the item, if known (under the seat, in seat pocket, in overhead bin, etc.)
Emily, sorry your family is going through this. We all know you can't control the actions of family members.
Nice try Emily. Anything to try to create some more hate and discontent against authorities. If this was your brother you would know that he was locked up and probably had a psych evaluation pending.
I was a security officer for several years. The agents and the deputy did exactly what they were supposed to do. Had this guy gotten away from them, that entire portion of the terminal would have to be evacuated and everyone rescreened before they could reboard planes. But hey, maybe if you had been there you could have told them he was your brother and that made it okay for him to break security. Give me a break lady! Stop trying to make more of this than it already is.
When I edited it said it saved my changes but I don't see them.
Anyway, he should have been taken to a hospital to be checked out, after being tased and before being locked up.
Tasers may induce an epileptic seizure but it is not going to damage an epileptics brain any more than someone without epilepsy. Also, in most (if not all) states, police officer must be tased themselves before they can carry a taser.
I saw a security screener named Muhammed Muhammed once. I'm not anti-Muslim but I did find that quite humorous...
I HATE the TSA and all their idiotic rules that only perpetrate the "illusion" of security BUT..and it pains me to admit it... I have to side with them on this one. The fact that the idiot actually left the secure area to as far away as baggage claim means that he could have picked up anything before going back. he should have just let them screen him and dealt with it. GOD THAT HURT ME TO TYPE!!!
LOL what an idiot!!!! what is the big deal, let security check the bag and be done, but nooooo... my rights blah, blah, blah. Only the people that have something to hide will create such a fuzz, that includes the disgusting smelly fat bastards that are ashamed to go through one of those x ray machines, tase them!!! tase them all!!! ha,ha,haaaaaaaa!!!!!
This moron definitely asked for it, he's just lucky that cop didn't shoot him instead (that being the trend in law enforcement now).
Why do you make it so damn difficult to be a passenger. Give the guy a break and work out a solution, like we will have someone get it for you. Or maybe, be nice instead of being a butt about everything. The TSA has the nickname of "Aiorport Gestapo" and the name is well earned--
Bro, u act stupid, u get tased.
There are always two sides to every story.. You never know what they guy was thinking.. maybe he forgot something expensive in the seat pocket, and since most aircraft have a 30 minute turn around time, that is about how much time he would have to retreive the item. I can imagine, getting a pass, getting re-screened would take far longer. He was wrong.. He needed to be re-screened for sure, but how about he or the security staff thinking outside the box a bit, and maybe have one of the ground staff retreive his item and send it to the security checkpoint.
Apparently some posters on here would never be guilty of 'intentionally avoiding submission' no matter what the circumstances.
must have been an obummer voter
What's so hard about following some basic rules, that everybody is required to do, even if he's been screened once? Gotta wonder if he's got something to hide, no matter if his bag was checked before. Don't people realize that being in an airport and on an airplane means that you have to live by their rules, which apply to everybody equally? The dummy got what he deserved.
We don't have enough information about the one who was tazed. An example: I was once married to someone who had such severe panic attacks that they would go from normal to way out there in a matter of moments and couldn't understand even simple statements. Perfectly normal 99.9999% of the time and then out of control panic. We found it was an uncontrolled brain chemistry thing.
While I agree he should have gone through the procedure, I don't like the police state mindset where it takes little or nothing to invite severe bodily harm from people in uniforms. And yes, the response by TSA was stupid, heavy-handed, and thoroughly incompetent, as is almost everything about our faux "security." They could have contacted the airline people and let them take care of it, as was/is usually done in airports. While the guy's response was inappropriate, most comments here are shortsighted. There were better ways for everyone to behave, and I remember when we didn't live in a draconian police state.
Obviously, you have no understanding of security. Maybe this guy had a bomb or gun that he had to hand off to someone else. I know that's a stretch but you just never know. If he had gotten through security and out of sight for even a second, they would have had to evacuate that entire section of the terminal and rescreened everyone. The TSA and deputies response was right on point, by the book. Had they done anything else they would be disciplined for failure to maintain security.
What an idiot. Just go through the screening again. Annoying? Sure, maybe. But seriously, not that big a deal. It would have all ended faster and with him getting his bag rather than causing a scene and getting tased and arrested etc. A person who was trying as hard as this guy was to blow through security and acting illogical, argumentative and combative bout a simple procedural wait should get the attention he got. If the safety measure can be circumvented because some @!$%# makes an overreacting scene, then it's not much of a safety measure. the response was not heavy handed at all. The guy got plenty of chances to just go through security and he not only refused, but started to push his way past security. I can totally see why that would look like suspicious and scary behavior. Shoot, why not just have an employee at the gate go into the plane and get whatever the guy left behind. Someone might have thought of that as easier than getting a pass and re-screening, including the passenger. This passenger turned what would have just a been a hassle for most people into a major issue. Idiot. Self important idiot.
I can certainly understand refusing to go through the god damn x-ray machine again. We DO NOT know the long term effects of this bull@!$%# device other then the government tells us that is safe. Right. Only the test of time will decide that. The story only talks about an issue with his bag, but next is going through the x-ray with your body. He was most likely objecting to the whole process. TSA is a make work project for a bunch of holier than thou Nazis. It is a waste of taxpayer money, they have never stopped anything from happening, only passengers on affected flights can claim that distinction. I have to deal with them every time I fly. They are very smug about their position over you. They are the "Good German" that allows our freedoms to disappear.
I am so tired of the argument "they have never stopped anything from happening!" How do you know that? Have you talked to all the terrorist organizations, and individual nuts, who would love to hurt us with another airplane incident? Did they assure you that they simply hadn't tried to get another airliner? No, you didn't, so you are just assuming, aren't you!
Here are the facts: Since 9/11, no terrorist has boarded an airliner at an U.S. airport. Before you bring up the shoe bomber or the underwear bomber, remember, they boarded airliners bound for the U.S. from foreign airports. The TSA does not operate anywhere but in the U.S. Foreign airports use their own security!