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| Drew Mandy |
The latest to make the headlines was TSA's handling of Drew Mandy, a 29 year old developmentally disabled citizen on his way with his family to visit Disneyland.
"I realize they're trying to keep people safe, but come on, does he look like a terrorist?" said Dr. David Mandy.No, Dr. Mandy, and of course they recognize that. But there's no sense in complicating matters. The TSA is not interested in terrorists, per se. They're not really interested in security. Their interest lies with security procedures and exerting their authority.
The family was going through security when two TSA agents singled Drew Mandy out for a special pat down. Drew is severely mentally disabled. He's 29, but his parents said he has the mental capacity of a two-year-old, which made the experience that followed at metro Detroit's McNamera Terminal that much harder to deal with.Well, that's a pretty safe bet...
"You have got to be kidding me. I honestly felt that those two agents did not know what they were doing," Mandy told us.
Dr. Mandy claimed they asked Drew to place his feet on the yellow shoe line, something he didn't understand. They proceeded to pat his pants down, questioning the padding which was his adult diapers. When the agents asked Drew to take his hand and rub the front and back of his pants so they could swab it for explosives, his dad stepped in and tried to explain that Drew was mentally challenged.Wow.
"They said, 'Please, sir, we know what we're doing,'" Mandy said.
The TSA agents saw Drew holding a six-inch plastic hammer.Oh no...
"My son carries his ball and his hammer for security. He goes everywhere with (them)," said Mandy. The TSA, it seems, saw the toy as a weapon.Of course they did.
Dr. Mandy explained:So could your head, a**hole.
"He took the hammer and he tapped the wall.
'See, it's hard. It could be used as a weapon,'"
"So, Drew's also holding the ball, and I said, 'Well, how about the ball?' He (said), 'Oh, he can keep that.'Oh, dear....
Dr. Mandy was told he would need to have the toy shipped if he wanted to keep it, a process which caused them to almost miss their plane, so he pitched it.Incredible.
"It just killed me to have to throw it away because he's been carrying this like for 20 years," Mandy said.
We also spoke to a federal security director who said this incident is still under investigation, but as far as they can tell right now, better judgment was needed.Yeah.
No brain policies like this and "zero tolerence"
ReplyDeleteare a match made in heaven for the "hopey-change" set. Let's hope any children of this union are still-born.
Wrap it and put it in with the baggage (issue a claim check). How hard is that?
Btw, Blogger hasn't fixed the sign-in problem yet. It signs you out of Google, then puts you in an infinite loop where you sign in and it signs you out after word verification. I wonder if they are targeting right-wing blogs. Get to it, boys! You already fixed it once before breaking it again.
We also spoke to a federal security director who said this incident is still under investigation, but as far as they can tell right now, better judgment was needed.
ReplyDeleteBetter judgement -- is that all that's needed? Great, TSA can start issuing that to agents, problem solved.
Better judgment is a great place to start. It's amazing that they are just now noticing a problem in this department. Yes, Cathy, by all means, bottle it up and ship it off to them. I have a sneaking suspicion that one might be able to make a bit of money selling such an item to these folks.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I like the chef outfit Chile's sporting.
Primum non nocere, indeed.
ReplyDeleteHow to gauge the loss to young Mr. Mandy? A priceless part of his life was discarded to please the TSA employee.
Unbelievable. And yet, this is the change we were hoping for.
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Well, they know what they're doing, I'm sure. Too bad the pampers didn't explode on them. That would have engendered a little more insight into the situation with young Mr. Mandy. And you are exactly right, Ten Mile, they are pleasing themselves, not protecting the people. It is the same everytime we read about these clowns.
ReplyDeleteSheesh!
It's disgusting that people with power, even down the food chain, act this way.
ReplyDeleteYou do wonder both about the intelligence and training of TSA people.
Thanks for posting this.
Intelligence... training.. I don't know. It's like the have a poor concept of what the goal should be, or rather they have a goal, but it's not one that will keep inconveniencing the people at a minimum while protection of the people to a maximum. The system prides itself on not making any use of human judgment - that's just tossed right out the window.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!