The TSA has released their surveillance videos of their attack on peaceful traveler Meg McLain. Oops, the videos vindicate her. See for yourself. You might need a magnifying glass though. Where are the timestamps? Why don’t they show the whole thing? Lame, TSA. Let’s the whole video. Here’s an image of Meg in cuffs. See the last few seconds of the video that clearly show her in cuffs.
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 104 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
Couple things:
1. No timestamps.
2. When is the cuffing?
3. When is the ticket ripping.
I may have missed them but it doesn’t appear that the cuffing or ripping are in these videos.
It looks like she may have exaggerated (not claiming she did on purpose, people often do in tense situations and surrounded) the number of bureaucrats though it’s difficult to tell given the angles as well as the length of the ordeal. Unless there is something that happened between the two provided videos.
Funny, it appears that one of the TSA agents has the not ripped up ticket in his hand, and I didn’t see handcuffs anywhere, though sure its possible that happened in the cubicle. I think she just wouldn’t do the scan (which I wouldn’t want to either) and was told no scan no fly. Not cool to make up stories for sympathy. In video one, they seemed to treat her quite nicely, giving her something to wipe her nose and tears even.
the rest happened off to the side. they wouldn’t show that i think.
I don’t know Meg by appearance, but I quickly figured out who she was after the swarm of TSA agents descended upon her. 6 agents within maybe 5 seconds of her entering the pat down area. I’d call that unbelieveable, but this is the TSA after all!
Buck up, Meg, here’s hoping you get home safely soon!
I don’t think the guys in white are TSA agents, the TSA people are in blue uniforms? It looks like after they walk her over to the side area the guys in white take over. Are they police officers?
Look in the second video. Although she is likely balling her eyes out, you don’t see her hands go up to her face.
Do you think the TSA is going to release the complete video? Look at their sucky camera and camera angles. They’re in damage control mode. And they suck at it.
these camera angles are screwed. everything major that happened is conveniently just off screen… like the fact that the roped off area only shows the corner where i was first told to sit (not the second chair they sat me in when the cops showed up). also, it doesn’t show the many other officials around, who were just behind me.
in the exit video, there were cops with me, and cops around the corner.
how horrible that they feel this clears them.
Well, although the second video doesn’t show much since, like you said, the camera angles are screwed, the first video does do a good job of showing the first 10 minutes of your incident.
You claim: All of the TSE agents freaked out and started yelling at you when you let them know you wanted to opt-out
Video shows:
– other travelers don’t react as if there’s any incident
– TSA agents are seen speaking calmly with you, one even seeming, as Jen commented, to treat you kindly when they gave you something to wipe your tears
You claim: when you opted-out you were grabbed and led to an area
Video shows: you were not grabbed and led to an area.
You claim: when you made to sit you were cuffed to your chair
Video shows: you were wiping your eyes with both hands with the paper towels they gave you
Hey, I don’t like the new procedures either, but it’s completely uncool to lie to everyone about your experience.
I skimmed the video and didn’t see any cuffs or boarding pass being torn up. What’s the time stamp for those events?
I hate the TSA as much as the next guy, but didn’t she say she was cuffed to the chair..?
Please explain what we are supposed to be seeing. The TSA seems to feel that they have been vindicated.
Time for an international boycott of the airline industry. Opt out, completely. Do not Fly until the oppression ends.
Some people actually have important stuff to do that requires flying.
I can’t believe that they caused her to miss her flight and they’re not helping her get on another one. WTF is wrong with this picture?
Our family has been planning on a trip to visit family several states away. I guess we’ll take the long scenic route because I won’t allow my preschooler to get a dose of radiation or groped for absolutely NOTHING. TSA has caught NO terrorists with their intrusive behavior.
You’re worried about the radiation? LOL Do you have any idea how much radiation you are exposed to walking down the street, or using the microwave??
Educate yourself.
At 10:30-10:41 in the second video, you can tell she is cuffed. No one walks with their hands held up like a boxer, and she is wearing either “bracelets” or cuffs she didn’t have on her wrists prior to being stopped.
So, TSA, tell us, what did she do wrong?
i watched the 20+ minutes on my phone during lunch and i believe much is being missed about these clips.
first, the tsa volunteering video to show they did no wrong? bs…they feared the exposure this one person is getting and was forced t…o play their hand.
second, when they pull her from the line…note the typical statist tactics of using rapid and forced actions to keep a person disoriented. they pull her aside and she is immediately surrounded by everyone as they briefly stop their usual duties.
third, the main tsa agent stands over her in an authoritarian manner with with excessive arm and head gestures…another statist tactic to increase the likliehood of you remaining subservient.
fourth, is that a paper towel being brought over to initate the good cop, bad cop ploy? well, hells bells it is! note ms paper towel stands there nicely for a moment and then the main one is back and they go to tag teaming her.
fifth, she is then taken in a room where we are unable to see what happens to her. was she cuffed? was her ticket ripped? that is all irrelevant when you have such a show of force outside that small cubicle to restrain such a physically imposing person as meg(sarcasm). whether she was cuffed or not, she was heavily intimidated. whether her ticket was ripped or not, she was not allowed to travel.
also, note that throughout the videos…passer-bys are constantly stopping and looking to see what is going on until a cop runs them off. that is highly indicative of a scene being made. since meg is constantly keeping herself in the best of composure, strong young woman!, it is quite obvious what has the other people’s attention. the tsa and cops must be behaving in just as loud and obnoxious of a manner as what their body language displays.
You are funny..poor poor meg. Such a liar and you stupid sheep are fooled by her lies.
Also, funny that out of an hour situation, TSA only released approximately 24 minutes of video. Half of which was from a camera that showed the area she was held at but not what was going on. You can’t SEE if she’s handcuffed because you can’t SEE her from the camera angle. You can’t SEE the ticket get ripped up because you can’t SEE anything about the people with her except for their heads. If TSA really felt they were in the right in this situation, they would have released ALL the video and from a camera that had a proper angle. And, don’t try to tell me they don’t have it.
Need a new view of the second video. Everything in question happened in the second video. However, they want everyone to focus on the first video because she said no one else went through the scanner, when the video shows her looking at people going through it. It’s meant to destroy her credibility so they don’t have to show evidence for the rest of the stuff.
I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that she was in a very stressful situation and didn’t actually realize that other people were going through it.
How is this vindicating her? I don’t see her handcuffed, I don’t see a “dozen big guys with guns” surrounding her, and I don’t see her being escorted out by a “dozen cops and seven tsa agents”.
I’m interested in seeing more about this, but there’s nothing in these videos to my eyes other than someone crying while sitting in a chair, then being escorted out by TWO people (not seventeen).
Please explain how these videos vindicate Meg McLain. There are at least three claims she made for which I don’t see the evidence in these videos: 1) that she was handcuffed to the chair; 2) that her ticket was ripped up; 3) 19 people escorted her out of the airport. I don’t deny she suffered some undeserved indignation, but she hurts her own cause by exaggerating what happened. It is therefore very curious your title claims these videos vindicate her – in what sense, exactly?
I remembered a fourth claim: that she was kept there for a half hour – these videos suggest 10 minutes.
If all of the incriminating stuff actually happened off camera, fine, I can’t argue that, but it still doesn’t justify George Donnelly posting this as “vindication” of the claims. I’m just wondering what George was thinking.
The two videos do not show the same incident. Video 1 is 10 minutes, video 2 is 13 minutes. Ten plus 13 is 23. I’m guessing you might estimate 23 minutes as half an hour, too.
I agree that the TSA is in damage control.
Think of it this way people. If this were a person who was caught with weapons or ill intent the TSA would release every single video from the moment that person entered the view of a camera til the point in which they were caught – if they were caught.
So why haven’t they done that here? Don’t tell me they don’t have multiple angles of video recording. Why show the worse one(s)? If they really wanted to discredit Meg they would have posted split screens, time stamps and audio of the encounter.
Also folks, don’t let the back and forth take from the real issue. People are being forced to pay, whether you fly or not, for the TSA via thief, I mean taxes. And even still you don’t have the option to opt out of a porno scan without getting molested. Who woud pay for this service voluntarily? Not to mention the monopoly the government holds on airport security. This wouldn’t be an issue at all if Meg and everyone else could choose an air line that wouldn’t touch my balls just because I was the 5th person in line.
Shame on the airlines for allowing this, shame on the TSA (government) for poorly covering this and shame on anyone who wants to criticize Smeg for exaggerating (which is a human reaction after being assaulted but in this case it was mostly done by the media. ‘Cuffed to a chair’ sells better than ‘cuffed for a moment’).
The point is that the TSA uses scare tactics to get others to obey the porno scanner, they force you to pay for that service and they fail at preventing any danger to anyone. Feel free to board your plan now…
So much exaggeration that the point and truth of the matter is lost. These videos, that supposedly vindicate Meg McLain do not show much of anything, but much worse, they in fact counter her claims. In the video she was never “hand-cuffed to the chair”, there were no “dozen or so police involved … …”, and at the end of the video, she gets up and walks away.
This is one of the problems with the sensationalist news and talk radio shows these days; They rarely, if ever, get their facts straight, and start broadcasting before substantiating anything. They could care less wether or not there is any truth to their inane sensationalizing of what they broadcast!
I hate TSA as much as anyone – I’m in the security business, and what TSA does is known in the industry as “security theater.”
So if we’re going to take them down, we have to be careful not to discredit ourselves. We can’t afford to make so many claims without any proof. Much less can we point to video and call it “PROOF!” when in fact it clearly is not – you’re only making it worse.
@Adam Mueller: CCTV security cameras almost never record audio – the audio would be particularly worthless in the environment in which these cameras were operating. How would you pick up the conversations you were interested in out of the crowd? With telescopic microphones? Those have to be aimed by an active operator. The truth is there were no microphones. It isn’t a conspiracy, it’s just the result of limited resources (though indeed the TSA wastes a ton as it is). Furthermore, you claim the exaggeration “was mostly done by the media” – not so. She’s the one that told everybody she was cuffed to the chair etc.
Which might actually have happened! But these videos don’t provide the proof we need to stand behind Meg’s claims.
TSA can only be taken down by *substantiated* truth – anything short of that paints us all as loony conspiracy theorists.
@David, why are you and others smashing Meg’s claims but not demanding to see every second of video? Isn’t that the same thing you and others are blasting Meg and the media for doing?
If the TSA releases video that counters Meg’s claims I’ll say so myself. They had 4 days to pick which video they wanted to release and it’s poor quality. It doesn’t back what Meg or the TSA claims.
I say we don’t get on the media, Meg or anyone but the TSA with one message. SHOW US EVERY SECOND… put it to bed once and for all.
It’s much less about smashing Meg’s claims than it is about smashing George’s claim that *these videos vindicates Meg*. That is so clearly not true that it casts doubt on the whole situation, which I think is unfortunate. I wish we *did* have the smoking gun on TSA to force them to back down on so many of their ridiculous “security” measures.
Which gets to your point about why I’m not demanding to see every second of video. Frankly I doubt there *is* more video than this. How many cameras do you really think are trained on the same few hundred square feet at any given security checkpoint at a large airport? In this case it appears there were two for the location of interest, which some would say is generous. Just try to think about it as if you were in charge of security – given a limited budget, how much overlap do you think you can afford? Remember all that money going to the virtual strip search machines and the salaries of the TSA agents…
vindicates her? are you kidding? no cuffs anywhere near her.
thanks for the BS story, meg.
I’m sorry, but she said she was cuffed to the chair and escorted out by at least a dozen police and TSA agents. I see NOTHING in either of these videos that indicates that she was cuffed to the chair, or that there were that many agents. I don’t agree with how the TSA inconsistently applies the “rules” as they are interpreted from airport to airport, but she is not telling the truth about her encounter with the TSA at Fort Lauderdale airport.
It would appear as though the second video would be the second area they took her to, which, I believe, is where she said she was cuffed. It is impossible to tell, in the second video, if she is cuffed or not. You can see the back of Meg’s head the majority of the second video, and nothing else, as far as seeing if she gets cuffed.
I don’t see how anyone can be dismissing the claim of her being cuffed from these videos.
How do you think that vindicates her? She’s never even handcuffed in the video.
How about a little editing? Who wants to watch 30 minutes of surveillance camera footage with no audio?
And Meg claimed that nobody but her had to go through the secondary screening. I saw several other people in there both before and after.
And what are we supposed to be seeing in the second video? 10 minutes and 30 seconds of nothing, and then 10 seconds of her being walked out by 5 people…not 19.
I’m against these new procedures as much as you are, but you’ve got to be honest or nobody will take you seriously.
Ok, toward the end of the second video it does appear she’s in handcuffs. It still doesn’t look as bad as she claimed it to be.
I’ve opted out of the “dick-measuring machine” before, and if you do, you have to get the “pat-down.” You can’t refuse both and still be allowed to fly. I’m not agreeing with it at all, but it’s a lesser-of-two-evils kind of thing. From the videos, it looks like she opted out of the porno scanner, and then refused to be pat-down. If you do that, they’re going to kick you out of the airport.
Didn’t she say in the interview that no other passengers were screened while she was detained? I seem to remember that.
Still…it took a lot of guts to stand up to the TSA. Good for her. I wish more would do it.
I thought she said she was singled out to go through the body scanner. The video shows it’s constantly being used. I don’t see any handcuffs, she is clearly able to wipe the tears off. So she lied? Please get her to clarify.
I think she probably misspoke about others going through the screening all together, and probably meant that no one else went through the secondary part, that is, no one could opt for the “pat down.”
Even when she added the scanners, it didn’t make sense that they would be cut off from others as well, but keeping her where they would do pat downs does.
Looks to me like about 5million and then we can work on mental anquish damages, Battery is the unlawful touching of another ones person without his or her express consent.
Unlawful detainment when probable cause did not warrant detainment or the actions depicted.
The subject was an Apparent American citizen-Female-and had all proper ID and her luggage was scannned. it s quite apparent she was picked for the body scan due to looks-then when she excercised her legal rights as a citizen she got assaulted verbally and then physically.
Seems like TSA will be showing a severe LOSS this year in monetary gains.
Sue them and Sue them HARD! Im positive there alot of attorneys who will jump at THIS case.
Watched both videos again, in the first video she is completely off screen for about 30 to 50 seconds,for most of this time the lady officer maintains eye contact with her and it sure as hell does not look like she is cuffed to any chair off screen, her hand can be seen popping into view now and then at the bottom right of the screen, and by looking at the lady officers head, it is clear that she is not looking at someone who is sitting down (lower) Then the lady officer leaves for about 6 or 7 seconds, comes back and asks her to move to the chair visible to the camera, and she moves there immediately. This would indicate that she was not cuffed.
In the second video She is walked behind the machine (or whatever it is) and her head is exactly above it for the entire video, again indicating she was never sat down. Her head always remains at the same level.
And when she leaves at the end of second video, her hands are in front of her, anyone who says she could not reach her face even if they were cuffed in that position is lying. And it may look like she’s cuffed, but she had her hands in the exact same position, with a band that looks like a cuff in the first video as well, when she was simply walking to the roped off area. maybe she just holds her hand that way.
I’m sorry, unless there’s more that happened between the 2 videos, or after the second one, I am thoroughly convinces she’s lying.
I don’t agree with the TSA screening procedures. But, this video CLEARLY does not support her story of how it went down. So explain how it vindicates her story?
She says she was the only one that was chosen to go through the body scanner, yet there is a steady stream of people walking through during the entire encounter – both before and after her.
Where is her getting handcuffed? She says she got cuffed in the chair and that she can’t wipe her eyes (because she was crying), yet the video clearly shows her in the chair with no handcuffs on and one of the TSA agents handing her paper towels to wipe her eyes. check 6:15 of the first video. SHE NEVER GOT HANDCUFFED.
She says they grabbed her by her arm and dragged her to the secondary screening area. I didn’t see it. Check 12:55 of the first video – the TSA agent doesn’t touch her at all.
She claims there are a dozen copes (that she counted 12). Where? I don’t see it.
um, it does? it doesn’t seem to happen the way she tells it. she’s sensationalizing her account, obviously. and i only listened to the first part of her interview after watching the videos.
ok, just clicked the link for ‘clearly showing meg in handcuffs’. hm, i thought. so i clicked the end of the 2nd video and looked close. it does indeed look like she’s wearing cuffs. hm, i thought again. so i looked at the beginning of the first video. oh, those weren’t cuffs, it was her watch. look at the 1:30ish mark of the first video. she definitely wasn’t handcuffed at this point, and her wrists look exactly the same as at the point that wewontfly says that it shows she was. i have to say i’ll probably remember the name george donnelly, and will never give anything of his i ever see again any credence. way to ruin your reputation one person at a time, george.
This fuckin wanna be airport cops think they are gods or something.
SUE THEM!
Sorry, what am I supposed to be seeing here? It doesn’t look much like what was described in the interview with her.
I don’t see her handcuffed to a chair, and when she is moved to a different area you see her standing the whole time. I didn’t see a dozen police / agents escort her away. Sure there were people looking , but nothing over the top.
How does this vindicate her? It looks like they took a lot of time to explain their policies and procedures and were very patient with her. Score 1 for TSA.
I hate the scanners as much as anybody and I am contacting all of my congressional reps to sponsor legislation to get the damn things abolished. However, I didn’t see the 12 armed officers around her, I never saw her get handcuffed and I never saw the ticket get torn up. So, what is going on? If true victims lie about what is happening to them, then the cause for getting rid of scanners loses credibility. I don’t see where she was vindicated other than she did miss her flight.
Wow, was she ever full of shit. Listened to her phone interview while watching the two TSA CCTV clips and her retelling was embellished to say the least. I counted at least 5 people getting selected for the body scan in the first 4 minutes after she was pulled aside. As for being escorted out by 12 cops, was there a doughnut stand just out of frame where she picked up another 9? Seriously, be big enough to admit that you might have spiced things up to make it Faux News worthy.
FINALLY — A great alternative to body scanners at airports . . . The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners at the airports. It’s a booth you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you. They see this as a win-win for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It also would eliminate the costs of a long and expensive trial. Justice would be swift. Case closed! You’re in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system . . . “Attention standby passengers — we now have a seat available on flight number XXXX. Shalom!” Hats off to the Israelis!!!!
No, it doesn’t, I’m sorry. Come on. I don’t like this stuff and agree that all this security is bullshit, all reasonable people do, but come on, reasonable people can also see she greatly exaggerated the story, to use an understatment. I won’t even insult your intellegences explaining why, it’s just plain. Twisting facts and lying to support an otherwise good cause ends up hurting it, because people who watch this now without prejudices and filters realize she made it the huge deal that it wasn’t and think that yeah, this whole security stuff is not a big deal.
I don’t see a time stamp, I don’t see a large section of the screening area and I don’t know who else was in which area. Why are all the questions about this video directed at the victim? Why aren’t people demanding more truth from the TSA…. they published a half ass video when they have the ability to publish Meg’s entire time in the airport.
And if these are the only cameras they have then why are taxpayers paying so much for this service (by the barrel of a gun)? Why is the TSA taking people to an area that is not viewed by cameras for the ‘extra’ pat down?
Ask the right questions people. The point of the story is simple, she refused to be photographed naked and to have a stranger put her hands on her body. If anyone but a TSA agent would do these things they’d be in jail.
Because the victim has made claims that are demonstratebly false. These are shown to be false right away.
1. She was the only one to go through it
2. She was led out by a dozen or more officers, some with weapons.
3. She was cuffed to the chair (and you can probably add ‘cuffed at any time’ but it’s not 100% clear to the true believers)
Other claims of hers cannot be substantiated by the videos released. We cannot completely rule them out, but it seems very unlikely. The only claims of hers we can test to the video are FALSE.
Why should we believe anything she says?
I don’t like TSA but I do not like liars either.
Actually, the video doesn’t entirely validate Meg’s claims. She was clearly not the only on singled out…. a steady stream of people of all shapes, sizes, sexes and ages goes through the naked scanner before and after Meg. They also didn’t appear to leave her without the ability to wipe her eyes for a long period as she claims – one lady even brings her a towel.
She appears to have brought her own biases to the situation that amplified her emotional response to what was going on. Not that there is anything particularly reasonable about the TSA policy, just that it wasn’t as orwellian as Meg suggested.
Because people want more information as currently it’s lacking and Meg is more reachable than the TSA. There are plenty of questions on the TSA blog (including my own) asking for more evidence but they don’t respond. Some people just want the facts… and only Meg and the TSA can provide them.
I agree Bile, but Meg doesn’t have a camera (or many cams) at her disposal but the TSA does. Meg doesn’t steal people’s money nor does she claim to work for everyone who flys but the TSA does.
She can only say the same thing over and over.. the TSA can put video to these accounts.
I encourage people to direct their questions to them, no matter how unresponsive they are. The lack of time stamp and poor angles should be proof enough to everyone that the TSA is hiding something.
Listening to her speak, I don’t think Meg was lying. She seemed to really believe everything she was saying. Yet the video clearly contradicts pretty much every “coloring detail” she offers. The core facts – she was selected for Naked Scanner, declined Naked Scanner, declined pat-down, was escorted out – they are all there.
Her additional details are all absent. No grabbing by the arm. No dozen cops and dozen TSA agents. No handcuffed to chair. No “I was there for an hour”. No “I was the only one selected”. No “ripping up my ticket in my face while I was handcuffed to the chair”. All of her coloring detail is flatly refuted by the video.
I think this is very instructive as to the reliability of eyewitness testimony. This incident alone should spur all police to want video of their actions. The next time someone whips out a cell phone camera – don’t run over and confront them, you might just need the evidence they are gathering. (and if you don’t agree with that, maybe you should give up on being a cop – we don’t need any dirty cops out there.)
Next Comments →