Quantcast

Jump to: site navigation, content.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

TSA to change procedure in response to complaint by North Richland Hills nipple-ring wearer

By Pegasus News wire

Email Print Tell us your story Comment (1)
Ouch.

Ouch.

Oh yay for Mandi Hamlin. The North Richland Hills resident got the Transportation Safety Administration to change its procedures regarding jewelry after it manhandled her during a security check in Lubbock on February 24.

Hamlin, 37, was wearing nipple rings that set off a handheld metal detector and was forced by the TSA to remove them -- one with a pair of large pliers. Whereupon Hamlin retained famed Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred.

The TSA released a statement on Friday acknowledging that it did not follow proper procedures and that passengers wearing jewelry will in the future be allowed to undergo a physical inspection.

Anyone who's flown since 9-11 knows that the TSA has gotten out of control with the ridiculous hoops that go above and beyond basic safety requirements and feel more like the territorial pissings of your average liquor-store parking-lot security guard who has a tiny bit of power and has basically gone mad.

From this original story reported by CNN, it seems clear that the encounter with Hamlin brought out the worst impulses of the TSA, combined with the quintessentially-American nuttiness over BREASTS:

"More officers were called over, and the group grew to four male and two female TSA officers ... Also, a small crowd of onlookers had started to gather. ... With tears streaming down her face, she again asked to show the piercings to a TSA officer instead of having to remove them. She was told, however, she would not be allowed to fly unless she removed them. Had she been told that she had a right to a pat-down, she would have chosen that option. ... As [she] struggled to remove the piercing, behind the curtain she could hear a growing number of predominately male TSA officers snickering in the background ..."

Hamlin was flying to Dallas-Fort Worth to visit her elderly great-uncle. Get this: The TSA agents did NOT ask her to remove her belly button piercing.

The best thing about her and Allred's presentation to the media was that they used a bra to demonstrate the nipple-ring removal, viewable here.

Posted by T.G.

Related stories

See more stories in:

Comments

Scott Doyle

Scott Doyle Verified

Per the linked DMN article:

Ms. Hamlin and her attorney said they will take no further legal action.

Kudos to her! Wonderful to see that she's not suing everybody involved along with their parents for bringing them into this world.

5 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Post a comment

(Requires free PegasusNews.com account.)


Password: (Forgotten your password?)


Find...

an event a Pegasus Pick
a restaurant a garage sale
a drink special a movie showtime
a band an organization
a job a political contribution
a house a deal

Add...

an event a garage sale
a lost pet a band
a story a photo

Today

Beardathon featuring Cas Haley / The Slack / Queen for a Day / Naked Lunch / Backsliders Fundraiser for John "Beard" Brewer, who is still paying off medical debts incurred after his seizure a year ago. They don't call him the world's best doorman for nothing. More info

Blogs

See more

Latest comments

See more recent comments

Latest reviews

  • DC on Aurora: Setting: lunch review Overall: awesome First straight ticket 5s. Damn. Sure, all diners know you can...
  • dmacfar139 on AllGood Cafe: Definitely must add redundancy to the raves already posted here. Tried it this morning for the first...
  • dmacfar139 on Ali Baba (Richardson): This place gets a good weekday lunch crowd. Nice mix of folks, working and not. The buffet at these ...

See more recent reviews