Got piercings?

[seaboy4hire]

http://cbs5.com/local/nipple.rings.flight.2.686288.html

 

TSA Forces Woman To Remove Nipple Rings For Flight

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LOS ANGELES (CBS 5 / AP) ― A Texas woman who claims she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

 

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Mandi Hamlin, 37, said at a news conference in Los Angeles. "My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way."

 

Hamlin said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.

 

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

 

Hamlin said she told the woman that she was wearing nipple piercings. The female agent then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the body piercings, Hamlin claimed.

 

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked if she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was removed, she said.

 

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped nipple piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

 

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a well-known Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.

 

Hamlin showed reporters at the news conference how she took off the second ring by applying pliers to the torso of a mannequin that had a peach-colored bra with the rings on it.

 

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

 

"After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing, and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove," Allred said.

 

TSA officials said they were investigating Hamlin's allegations to see if its policies were followed.

 

"Our security officers are well-trained to screen individuals with body piercings in sensitive areas with dignity and respect while ensuring a high level of security," the agency said in a statement.

 

On its Web site, the TSA warns that passengers "may be additionally screened because of hidden items such as body piercings, which alarmed the metal detector."

 

"If you are selected for additional screening, you may ask to remove your body piercing in private as an alternative to a pat-down search," the site reads.

 

Hamlin would have accepted a "pat-down" had it been offered, Allred said.

 

If an alarm does sound, "until that is resolved, we're not going to let them go through the checkpoint, no matter what they're wearing or where they're wearing it," said TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird in Salt Lake City.

 

People routinely pass through security wearing wedding rings without problems and it might take a larger bit of metal to trigger an alarm, Baird said.

 

"I'd be really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples," he said. "Sometimes they have a chain between their nipples, or a chain between their nipples and their belly button. It would have to be made of heavy metal to be detected."

 

Transportation Security employees are required to check anything that raises concerns at checkpoints, Baird said.

 

"No matter what it is, if it's something that unduly alarms people or sets off the sensors they must check it," Baird said. "But I've never heard of any of our people having anyone remove something that sounds as small as a nipple ring."

 

Allred said celebrity Nicole Richie had her breasts inspected by security at an airport because of her nipple rings several years ago. Baird said he was not aware of the Richie incident either.

 

Hamlin filed a complaint but the TSA's customer service manager at the Lubbock airport concluded the screening was handled properly, Allred said.

 

Hamlin wants an apology from the TSA and an investigation by the agency's civil rights office.

 

Allred said she might consider legal action if the TSA does not apologize.

Hamlin was publicly humiliated and has "undergone an enormous amount of physical pain to have the nipple rings reinserted" because of scar tissue," Allred said.

 

Hamlin said her piercings have never set off an airport metal detector. She added that she will never fly out of Lubbock again.

 

"The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary," Allred said. "The last time that I checked a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."

 

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

 

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My favorite quote: "The last time that I checked a nipple was not a dangerous weapon," well-known L.A. attorney Gloria Alred said.

 

Hugs,

Greg

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http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

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Tentative travel cities 2008: Denver, MSP, SF, Chicago, NYC.

[OneFinger]

Here's a pix of her demonstrating what she had to do to remove the ring.

 

http://img.breitbart.com/images/2008/3/27/D8VM3DT00/D8VM3DT00.jpg

 

IMHO the TSA is given way too much authority and is responsible to no one. I'm all for airport security. But, I think this incident has been poorly handled.

 

I wonder how many other incidents like this have gone unreported?

[Guest zipperzone]

A friend of mine recently had trouble with airport security because he had two dispensers of under arm deoderant in his hand baggage. He explained that one was almost empty and as he was going on a two week trip, he needed the 2nd one to use after the other was empty.

 

He was told he had to throw one away and when he started to argue that this made no sense, he was told that if he argued further he would be taken away and strip searched and they would make sure he missed his flight.

 

They have way too much authority and some are simply on a power trip.

For the most part they are poorly educated, earn shit saleries and love the opportunity to exercise their authority.

[seaboy4hire]

I had a similar situation. This last fall I was heading out to Indy and then Memphis and was going to be gone for about a week. Usually I like to use my own shampoo, conditioner and what not. I had two sandwhich bags of bath stuff for the week or so I was going to be gone. Went through Seattle no issues, O'hare no issues, Indy no issues but the bitch's at Memphis weren't having it and made me try to cram everything in one sandwhich bag. Fucking bitch's! I didn't care I yelled that the cunt and told her to mind her business and that one can not blow up a plane with mouthwash, toothpaste, crystal deodorant, a toothbrush and a few regular things. She didn't like my reply and told me such is life. As I was walking away I gave the bitch the finger! I think good thing for me she didn't see me show her she was number one cause I'd probably be locked up. I don't normally have a temper but when I have to deal with stupid rules that makes no sense it drives me crazy! Moral of the story there is no consistency for the TSA.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6707/lebec084a9ad147f620acd5ps8.jpg

Tentative travel cities 2008: Denver, MSP, SF, Chicago, NYC.

[+ Charlie]

Returning from Canada last year, my partner was stopped at TSA security in Calgary airport when the metal detector went off. He explained that he had tit piercings, but when the officer used her metal wand against them, she said, "It's not your boobies, sweetie, it's something else." It turned out that the detector was so sensitive, it was reading the metal pin in his chest that holds his sternum together following heart bypass surgery! Luckily, they didn't insist that he display it.

[+ glutes]

http://static.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/soldierkid.jpg

[JamesK840]

I agree there are far too many dumbshits in the TSA, but in this case maybe when they handed her the pliers and told her it was time to take out the nipple rings they were doing it as a service to humanity?

 

She just seems a bit old (and fugly) to be explaining to a line full of people about her pierced private parts...

[Guest showme43]

When is someone going to stop the US Gestapo (TSA/Homeland Security)?

Before long they'll be rounding up "undesirables" and locking them away in some camp...oh wait they already are, in Cuba. x(