TSA Officers Confuse Insulin Pump for Gun at LAX, Declare 'Security Breach'

Hunter

Flying is a privilege, not a right. If people with diabetes don't want to be detained, they shouldn't carry these life threatening devices. Or better yet, don't get diabetes in the first place.DUDE! you are a " FUCKING IDIOT" Or better yet, don't get diabetes in the first place.

Fed Up with TSA

How did she leave the checkpoint before being completely cleared? A TSA screener had to have let her go. I left a half empty bottle of water in my carryon once and they didn't let me leave.

As a pump wearer, I was told by the manufacturer to not go through the scanners and not to send it through the x-ray machine. If I get selected for the scanner, I can either not fly, or get an invasive patdown, which has included my genitals being touched. That's not that great of a choice. Everybody has the right to opt-out of the scanners. Just be prepared because some of the TSA screeners take offense to that and will check you thoroughly. If somebody did that to you on the street, they would go to jail, but it's just a normal day for the TSA.

Fred

"privacy-infringing porn machines" pretty well sums up the spin this article is whipping up. These "porn" machines are helping everyone fly safely, if you feel that you may be a "victim" of these scans, Amtrak and Grayhound are awaiting your travel reservation. This is a case of incompetency of the TSA agents, period.

Johnathan

Fred,

If you are to cowardly to get on an airplane without the protection of a federal agency, then Amtrak and Grayhound are awaiting you travel reservation.

Stop supporting the warentless searching of people, because you never got over your fear of the boogyman.

Peggy

I wear a pump and have been informed by my manufacturer to NEVER wear a pump through an exray machine or put it on the belt for scanning. I always inform TSA and they do a pat down.

TSA Supporter

So let me get this straight...a woman causes a breach of security by leaving the checkpoint before the anomaly detected by the body scanner is cleared, and TSA is the bad guy? What the hell is wrong with you idiots? This woman not only deserved not to fly, but I hope she gets a bill from the federal government and the airport for the inconvenience that she caused! oh, and by the way, The picture used in this article is a FAKE! the image that the TSA officers see has never, and will never, look like that! It is a picture that was taken, then developed as a negative! The TSA does not see the actual person's body on the screen...it's either a generic outline of a human body if there's an anomaly or a green screen that says OK if the person is clear...But I guess you can continue believing the media's lies if you prefer to live in a fantasy world where the people who go to work everyday to make sure that people enjoy a flight that is safe and secure are either trying to pump you full of radiation or trying to look at your (shudder) disgusting naked body (and trust me, no one wants either of those things!

Aaw

Fucking retard.

Jet

This is amazing. The second time in about a week that a 'security breach' traveller has been allowed to 'wander off before security could intercede' even though supposedly (according to TSA staff) they had a weapon on their person (in one case an actual pistol). What the hell is the point of body-scanning these people if they can just take their 'weapon' and saunter off afterwards? Is that not the definition of 'security theatre'??

Jmf

Flying is a privilege, not a right. If people with diabetes don't want to be detained, they shouldn't carry these life threatening devices. Or better yet, don't get diabetes in the first place.

Ba'al

fucking Room-Temp I.Q. "employees"

Fisher1949

This is another demonstration of the incompetent imbecilesthat make up the TSA. They not only mistake an insulin pump for a gun but letthe passenger head to the gate while they try to figure it out. This incidentcost the facility and passengers tens of thousands of dollars in resources,airline delays and lost productivity.

In the past week we’ve had one screener arrested in Miamifor stealing passengers laptop computers, had TSA detain a sitting Senatorwhile Congress in session and now close down a gate at one of the nation’sbusiest airports for an hour.

Based on the GAO tests in 2011, TSA failed to discoverweapons 60% - 70% of the time. So for every gun they find two get through and nothinghappens!

The private screeners found more weapons using metaldetectors and the x-ray belt and didn't cost us $8 billion a year, grope ourgenitals, strip search or irradiate us.

TSA in their twisted logic is trying to convince the sheeplethat this ridiculous security circus is somehow justified, when in fact itdelivers less security than pre-9/11 measures and only adds abuse andhumiliation.

This agency needs to be abolished and replaced withsomething that actually works and is staffed by professionals, not work-releaseparticipants.

TSA Crimes & Abuses

bit.ly/TravelUndergroundTSAabu...

guest

I know this woman. She called me once she reached her destination to tell me the story of her day.Normally she does remove her pump, but things were moving so quickly that she didn't have a chance. With the first TSA agent she told him she was diabetic and was wearing an insulin pump prior to entering the body scanner. After the scanning she was told to go over to another TSA agent (a woman). Again, with this agent she informed her that she was wearing a pump and pulled it out to show the agent. Yes, let me say this again. The pump was taken out from under her clothing and shown to the TSA agent!! The agent then turned to the body scanning agent and asked if she was ok. He said yes. The woman TSA agent then told the woman she was ok to go. The woman then asked if it was ok to go---making sure that she understood correctly that she could go. And, again, the TSA agent said yes you can go. OK can someone please tell me what more a person must do to really know if it's ok to go. Isn't twice enough!!!!Yes she was DETAINED not just screened again. They seached all of her bags thoroughly (her clothes are now nicely wrinkled). She was questioned some of the police officers were nice some less than nice. She showed them the device along with the doctors note (Oh, the woman had informed the original TSA agents that she had a doctors note. I'm not sure whether the agents asked to see it---if they didn't then isn't that their screw up). It took awhile before everyone felt sure that this was, in fact, an insulin pump. I was told that in the end the police officers told the woman that she had done nothing wrong and this was entirely on the TSA. One more thing, the police told her that the TSA had informed them that the woman was trying to get a bomb on the plane.. This article is the first I've heard that they thought it was a gun. That one is interesting. Saying they thought she was carrying a gun makes them look even dumber!!! As you were trying to point out in the article and the pictures how could anyone confuse the two. Her pump is a rectangle about 3 or 4 inches long by abbout 2 inches. what kind of gun is that???????What really irks me the most is their stating that she left before being cleared. Trying to put some of the blame on this woman. Man-up TSA admitt the whole botched thing was all on you.I guess in the future this woman will always make sure she takes the time to remove her pump. Although, I'm not sure that that would have saved her from those 2 imbeciles!!!!!

Daisiemae

Please come out publicly and make a response. We need people like you to do that. It's the only way we can expose this incompetent criminal agency for the waste of enormous tax dollars that it is.

The loss of time and money and the inconvenience for huge numbers of people that this stupidity caused should be brought to light.

Please encourage your friend to speak out against this atrocity.

Daisiemae

Something I forgot to say that really concerns me.....the fact that TSA called the police and told them your friend was trying to take a bomb on the plane.

Once the police are involved like that, there is always the risk of shooting or tazing. The person targeted by police doesn't hear or understand commands, is confused, or makes some wrong move that the police interpret as threatening and then there are horrifying consequences. It really frightens me that your friend or innocent bystanders could have been seriously injured or killed as a result of this idiocy.

At the very least, your friend was terrorized. Yes, that's the word....terrorized! Speaking out publicly might help towards preventing another innocent person from being terrorized. Or even worse....shot or tazed.

Lisa Simeone

Guest, thank you for this extra bit of information. But I hope you realize that it would be more credible if you would use your real name. The problem with info like this is that anyone can post a comment saying anything, and there's no way to track it down. Like it or not, that's how reporters and editors look at it.

I believe your statement, because I know that the TSA so often behaves wrongly and abusively, and never admits fault. But as I say, if neither you nor the woman in question is willing to use his/her real name, it's easy for the naysayers and TSA apologists to discredit your statement. And that's what they'll do.