The TSA strikes back against Sippy Cup Mom
Never mind the Transportation Security Administration’s stellar reputation. And the free love its agents get from every other passenger traveling through its security checkpoints. Today the TSA posted on its Web site two videos and an incident report to refute allegations that it was harassing a passenger at Reagan National Airport.
The video shows an altercation with a passenger who supposedly refused to empty her toddler’s water bottle. She responds to the TSA agent by dumping the water on the ground, and, according to the incident report, asking, “Do you know who I am?”
A former Secret Service agent is, in fact, who she is—one whose original story is clearly contradicted by the TSA video. The video shows that the TSA folks were probably doing what is required of them by law. The video also shows Monica Emmerson wiping up her mess with paper towels after being confronted.
What’s fascinating is that Emmerson’s original allegations of harassment spread on the Internet this week, which prompted the TSA to tell it like it really was (remember: transparency is a two-way street). What was probably a non-story to begin with has now exploded in the face of righteous indignation. As of this writing, there are 210 hits on this story in a Google news search.
As alluded to in a previous post, TSA’s actions are going to become more the norm for organizations under attack—in this case, falsely—and rightfully so.
Consumerist weighed in on the original story by writing a post of credence to Emmerson’s allegations. Later, rather than admitting to being spun by a consumer (“Perhaps she did spill the water on purpose,” Consumerist writes ), Consumerist pokes fun at TSA’s Mythbusters Web site and reduces the conclusion of the video to a “he said, she said,” adding that “the video, which has no sound, is inconclusive.”
The erroneous subtext is, of course, that the public generally walks on water.
