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| Man faces charges for defying TSA agents | |
| 2011-01-17 | |
| A Seattle man's trial in Albuquerque on charges of making trouble at an airport security checkpoint is getting attention from civil liberties groups all over the country. Read on and you'll actually have some sympathy for the TSA. Phil Mocek was arrested at the Albuquerque Sunport in November of 2009
Mistake #1. The TSA has every right to ask for a valid ID. Police say Mocek became disruptive. Mistake #2. Becoming disruptive gets you a quick exit from the security line and a short ride to the airport lockup. They arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct, refusing to obey an officer, criminal trespassing, and concealing his identity. After many delays, his trial in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court was scheduled to begin this morning, but the judge ordered it postponed until January 20. Guess you're not getting to where you wanted to go quickly. Representatives from several civil liberties groups were at the courthouse this morning, including Edward Hasbrouck of the San Francisco-based Identity Project. "This is the first time anybody anywhere in the country has actually been arrested and put on trial on criminal charges for anything that happens at a TSA checkpoint," Hasbrouck said. There's always a first time. Police told Eyewitness News 4 that when somebody becomes disruptive or offensive in an airport, they have a responsibility to stop it - and that's what they said they did when they arrested Mocek. Correct. That's one reason why we have police. Hasbrouck said the demand for Mocek's I.D. started all the trouble. " What's really at root in this case is whether travel is a right that we have under the Constitution - an ability to move about the country without having to show papers - which has been one of the defining characteristics of American freedom, " Hasbrouck said. I don't recall anything in the Bill of Rights about travel. Air travel is a public conveyance. It's regulated by the Federal government, and airports are also regulated by state governments. If the government wants you to show a valid ID, you show a valid ID (unless you're voting in an airport). | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 A Seattle man Ha! A |
| Posted by: Fire and Ice 2011-01-17 21:14 |
| #6 Picked the wrong place to play this out. Albuquerque usually has a number of unscheduled commercial landings because some fool decides to do something stupid on a transcontinental flight. I'm sure the court and prosecution are pretty much versed in the particulars covering air transportation. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-17 21:05 |
| #5 Actually, I doubt the constitution has anything whatsoever to say on the subject of ID at all, pro or con. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-01-17 20:15 |
| #4 This guy claims that the Constitution guarantees him the right to travel without showing id. I am neither a constitutional scholar nor a lawyer, but I think he is wrong on several counts: 1) If you walk where you go, you don't have to show ID. (Unless a police officer asks for ID.) 2) I haven't read the whole Constitution lately, but I don't remember anything about traveling without ID. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2011-01-17 19:56 |
| #3 The whole TSA exercise is frustrating and pretty pointless, but I really don't have anything bad to say about the individuals in it I personally have had contact with. And you have to have some sympathy for them on the whole groping thing - just imagine YOUR job required you to do that to the person squeezed into the seat next to you (and overflowing into yours)! |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-01-17 19:06 |
| #2 Or fly chartered flights from smaller airports - they are not subjected to the TSSA's grope check in most cases. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-01-17 18:09 |
| #1 it's already been established in the supreme court if a cop ask for ID thenyou have too show it. Sounds like he will be going down on these charges.Don't fly if you don't wanna go throught the rigamarole of dealing with the TSA. |
| Posted by: chris 2011-01-17 16:39 |