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| Britain | |
| Bomb ’joke’ student jailed | |
| 2004-01-20 | |
A British woman is being held in a US prison after she joked with an airport policeman that she was carrying a bomb.
Wrong answer, honey. According to the arrest report, Ms Marson placed her bag on the belt at a security check, telling a Transportation Security Administration screener: "Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here" - before allegedly repeating the joke twice more when confronted by officials. Not once, not twice, but three times. She was taken into custody and within hours appeared before a judge who remanded her to Dade County Jail. "Hi sweet cheeks, I’m your new cell mate, Big Sally." Ms Marson - who is due to appear in court again on 6 February - will be released on bail if she can come up with a £2,700 bond. Sergeant Joe Wyche from Miami Airport Police told BBC Midlands Today that officers were left with no choice but to arrest Ms Marson. "First of all, it’s a violation of our state law. Before 9/11 we took it seriously - after 9/11 there’s no room for kidding or joking, if that’s the person’s intention, so it’s taken in a serious manner. There’s no room for playing games at security checkpoints. I’m sure probably over in Britain if similar comments are made it’s not laughed upon." IRA bombs are no laughing matter to the Brits, she should have known better. He added: "The specific penalty for this is probably a misdemeanour, so therefore it’s probably less than a year in jail, but of the specifics of what could happen to this person I have no idea." Ms Marson’s father Jim, 75, said: "We are beside ourselves with worry." She phoned at about 3am on Sunday and was hysterical." Dade County Jail does that to people. "I’m sure Samantha will accept that it’s a silly thing to say, but she’s the sort of girl who might have thought it would make people laugh." I’m sure she’ll be a riot on Cell Block B. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Samantha Marson is only a five on today's idiocy scale. The girl who flew off the F-150 powered carousel was a curve buster. Samantha should have tried yesterday. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-20 8:35:58 PM |
| #7 The best one I've heard yet happened at an airport near here. A guy gets to the terminal, gets to the check-in line, and has his carry-on bag searched. There's a clockwork device in his luggage, with a couple of round objects attached to it. The entire security apparatus goes bonkers, and the airport's locked down. The bomb squad arrives, and carefully removes the cuckoo clock from the carry-on case. The guy had told them he had a cuckoo clock in his bags, even shown it at the ticket window, but the baggage screeners STILL went bonkers. Sometimes, security can get a bit overblown, and needs a little common sense. At the same time, ignoring something like that could cost someone a commercial airline - or worse. The tough part's drawing the line between too much and too little. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-1-20 8:27:27 PM |
| #6 Back in 1989, I was a speaker at a Democratic Party event in Dallas. Owing to a series of screwups (common at these events) I found myself without transportation back to the airport. I accepted a ride from one of the guests, who turned out to be a local religious right activist who had attended to see what sort of dirt he could dig up on us. He was pleasant enough on the way to the airport, though a bit odd. At one point, a car ran a stop sign in front of us. He commented that this was obviously the work of Satan, who was no doubt seeking to do me in before I could see the light and come over to the Falwell/Robertson side of things. Continuing to be helpful, he offered to carry one of my bags when we got to the terminal. Having 3 bags, two hands, and very little time, I gratefully accepted. As we entered the concourse, he commented very loudly, "This is kinda' heavy, IT MUST BE THE ONE WITH THE BOMB IN IT!" I was released after several hours of grilling and FBI checks, but my erstwhile helper spent a night in jail before the less-than-amused judge relieved him of about a thousand dollars in fines and let him go. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-1-20 6:29:24 PM |
| #5 According to the arrest report, Ms Marson placed her bag on the belt at a security check, telling a Transportation Security Administration screener: "Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here" - before allegedly repeating the joke twice more when confronted by officials. One word: D-U-M-B-A-S-S. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-20 6:01:01 PM |
| #4 Her 'da is 75 and she's 21!?? The dirty old coot. Did he toss her mum over for a newer model? |
| Posted by: Anonymous2u 2004-1-20 5:23:22 PM |
| #3 Michael Dukakis got some 'bad press' about ten years ago for muttering the same lame joke at Logan Int'l. Agreed, Rafael, some people will never learn. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-1-20 4:04:03 PM |
| #2 Idiot! Don't jail her. Make her walk back to Britian. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-20 3:55:08 PM |
| #1 Story after story after story and yet people still do this. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-1-20 3:51:48 PM |