Passenger Refuses Groin Check, Full Body Scan
There's been a confrontation over full body scans at a U.S. airport: A California man refused a scan in San Diego Saturday; he also refused a pat down.
"We're spending inordinate amounts of money on security that isn't necessary and arguably doesn't work," John Tyner said. "I didn't intend to go through the machine or be groped."
"They told me to go through the scanner and I said, 'I don't think so,"' Joyner remembered.
He used his iPhone to record the conversation with a security agent.
When the agent told Tyner he was going to get to a groin check, he wasn't having any of it. "We can do that out here, but if you touch my junk, I am gonna have you arrested," Tyner said.
"After I was trying to leave, and the supervisor's supervisor's supervisor came over and told me that I needed to go back through security, because it was against federal law to start the security process and not finish it," Tyner recalled.
Tyner says he was then escorted back to the American Airlines ticket counter, where the airline refunded his money, but he says that wasn't the end of it: He says he was threatened with a civil lawsuit, but he left anyway.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addressed heightened security checks at airports Monday, writing in a USA Today opinion piece that body scanners used at many airports are safe and the images viewed in private.
She wrote pat-downs have been used for years at airports and measures are in place to protect travelers' privacy.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. "We're spending inordinate amounts of money on security that isn't necessary and arguably doesn't work," John Tyner said. "I didn't intend to go through the machine or be groped."
"They told me to go through the scanner and I said, 'I don't think so,"' Joyner remembered.
He used his iPhone to record the conversation with a security agent.
When the agent told Tyner he was going to get to a groin check, he wasn't having any of it. "We can do that out here, but if you touch my junk, I am gonna have you arrested," Tyner said.
"After I was trying to leave, and the supervisor's supervisor's supervisor came over and told me that I needed to go back through security, because it was against federal law to start the security process and not finish it," Tyner recalled.
Tyner says he was then escorted back to the American Airlines ticket counter, where the airline refunded his money, but he says that wasn't the end of it: He says he was threatened with a civil lawsuit, but he left anyway.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addressed heightened security checks at airports Monday, writing in a USA Today opinion piece that body scanners used at many airports are safe and the images viewed in private.
She wrote pat-downs have been used for years at airports and measures are in place to protect travelers' privacy.
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I'll give up a brief intrusion if it catches a threat to my families safety. It was not sexual assault, it was a standard patdown search. If he was wearing underwear his "junk" would not even have been touched. the only person he inconvenienced was himself.
The Christmas day bomber according to the blog of a couple Michigan that were passengers on the planer said that the bomber was escorted through security at the Netherlands by some official. It was an odd thing that never was explained and the video from the airport never released. Could the whole thing have been a setup? Who knows but terrorism makes big profits and provides political cover and benefit? We need the entire 9-11 event re-investigated by requiring all officials to be under oath and publicly interrogated and the process directed by outside experts many of which should be skeptical of the existing findings rather than politicians. Have each question open to the public suggestion.
Do you know the risk of death by terrorist in the USA?
It is so low that you are 10,000 times more likely to win a major lottery.
Do you know your change of getting cancer from long term repeated exposure to radiation?
It's a hell of a lot higher than getting killed by a terrorist.
don't want scanned.. take the bus. Go to Greyhound get your 15 minute of fame.
can't believe people think TSA can get his rocks off looking at 'negative' style scans.... Americans continue to show their uneducated and lack of critical thinking skills.
For me... zap me baby... and ladies.. don't crowd around, there is plenty for everyone
Something is very wrong when we can?t have an open discussion about the policies of another country that that the terrorists themselves have said is at the root of their actions and a major cause in what has had a serious impact on our way of life.
Bring in the cameras, the sunlight and the debate and let?s see where it all leads. We must change the discussion and tactics or we are going to be going broke and living in a fascist security crazy dictatorship.