TSA Confiscates Camera, Deletes Footage of Checkpoint
TSA workers steal memory card, cop claims “It must have fallen on the ground”
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
October 1, 2012
Despite the TSA admitting on its own website that there is no law which prevents people from filming TSA checkpoints, a man traveling through San Juan airport in Puerto Rico had his camera confiscated and footage deleted.
Tom McCormack explains how he was repeatedly harassed by TSA officers and then police simply for filming at a body scanner checkpoint, before TSA agents violently grabbed his camera from him and disappeared, a concerning development given the fact that TSA workers are routinely caught stealing expensive personal items belonging to travelers.
The following account of the incident comes courtesy of the Pixiq website.
I was in the San Juan airport at noon (Sept 24) heading for St. Kitts.
I videotaped (Canon Power Shot) the podium where they make you show the passport/boarding pass, as I approached and then the next area with the X-ray scanners. It was busy. One TSA woman told me to stop from about 20 feet away. I didn’t.
They all seemed intrigued I wouldn’t follow their orders. A TSA guy soon approached me and said I had to stop. I kept the video going and said
“Sorry, it’s a Constitutional right.” He said “Okay” and walked back, a little indignant, to the X ray area.
When I went through X rays they were waiting for me. Two uptight TSA ladies rolled up on a cart and approached me. I grabbed my camera and started rolling; I wanted to capture the conversation with them.
One of them approached me and violently ripped the camera from my hands. I was shocked and told her to give it back and lunged for my camera. They took my camera and passport and boarding pass and ran off to some corner to confer with one another.
A police officer approached and asked where I was from. I said California. The conversation went like this:
Me: “I’m from California. Why?”
Him: “Well, each State has its own rules.”
Me: “But this is TSA. A Federal agency. Therefore the State laws don’t apply. Besides, the First Amendment of the Constitution trumps state rules.”
Him: “This is an airport. You can’t just videotape people. You need permission.”
The Rest…HERE
