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Air Marshals pull guns

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,190
13,448
directly above the center of the earth
after arresting suspicious passenger, when other passengers refuse to stay in their seats after being ordered to remain seated.

Dumasses when an Airmarshall gives you an order, do it. These same morons have now filed complaints.

I'm sorry but this is not the care free days of airtravel anymore or did these people somehow miss 9/11?


Hello?



P H I L A D E L P H I A, Sept. 1 — Federal officials defended the response of an air marshal who trained his gun on a passenger-filled jet cabin for 30 minutes after detaining a man, prompting protests by a judge who was on the flight.

Two armed marshals detained the man on Delta Flight 442, which was flying from Atlanta to Philadelphia with 183 people on board, because he allegedly was rummaging through other people's luggage.

One marshal then held his gun on the coach cabin passengers because some of them ignored orders to remain seated with their seat belts on, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday.

"If people would have stayed in their seats and heeded those warnings, that would not have happened," said TSA spokesman Robert Johnson in Washington. "It's our opinion that it was done by the book."

He said the TSA, which oversees federal air marshals, was still reviewing the marshals' response on the Saturday flight. The man whom the marshals detained was released and the U.S. Attorney's office decided not to press charges, said FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams.

Johnson said that despite the passengers' complaints, he thought the marshals did what they needed to do to make sure that the plane could land safely.

"It's a highly charged situation," Johnson said. "It's (about) keeping the plane secure."

Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge James A. Lineberger, who was sitting diagonally across from the detained man, said he thought the marshals overreacted by holding their semiautomatic weapons on passengers for so long.

Lineberger also said he hadn't noticed any disturbance before the marshals suddenly took the man up to first class and restrained him.

Several minutes later, the judge said, the marshals returned to the coach cabin and pulled out their guns.

"I assumed at that moment that there was going to be some sort of gun battle," he said. "I'm looking right down the barrel of the gun as though it was pointed at me."

Lineberger said he plans to file a complaint with the TSA on Tuesday. He said about 30 other passengers also plan to complain.

David and Susan Johnson of Mobile, Ala., said they hadn't been aware of any disturbance when the sky marshals took the man first to the back of the plane and then to the first-class section.

"It never made sense," said Susan Johnson, 51, a social worker. "This guy was not any physical threat that we could see. Maybe he said some things to them that made them concerned. He just appeared to us unstable, emotionally."

One passenger, however, said he thought the air marshals handled the situation in a calm and professional manner.

"These guys looked pretty well like they had things under control," said Robert Venditti-Kramer, 28, who was in first class. He said the marshals only pointed their guns straight down the aisle, not at any passengers. "I think the situation was extremely well-handled."

Delta Airlines spokeswoman Kristi Tucker said airline officials would talk with crew members on the flight and would cooperate with federal authorities, but she declined to comment further.

After the plane landed, police boarded and briefly questioned another man sitting behind Lineberger, but did not detain him, the judge said.
 

splat

Nam I am
I read the story on MSNBC ( slightly different than above , but same jist) but one thing they pointed out , 31 people complained 150 People did not ! Several even said they did not draw there guns till after the people ( probably the ones who complained ) were told to sit down several times. and said quite a few even comended the job the marshalls did.

comes down to the basic , Dammed if you do Dammed if you don't !

What I would like to hear is the flight crews story.
 

Spud

Monkey
Aug 9, 2001
550
0
Idaho (no really!)
They will have this problem with air marshalls for sometime. A few months ago they had air marshalls pull their guns on a flight for some feasible reason. Only problem was the flight crew was not informed ahead of time that armed marshalls were on board. So now they had two armed people taking control of the plane and claiming to be air marshalls, without the flight crew being able to quickly confirm this.

Yep, September 11 taught people alot, one thing is that if somebody pulls a weapon on the flight you don't just sit back and assume everything will work out.....

Interesting scenarios. I hope they can figure all this out soon. Nobody wants to give in to an armed person after 9/11, but how do you identify the good guys?
 

Spud

Monkey
Aug 9, 2001
550
0
Idaho (no really!)
So how do you confirm that the man with the gun is an Air Marshall? Because he says so? He has a badge around his neck? Now if the flight crew is keyed into it an knows this is genuine, then sure different story. Did the flight crew get on the PA and announce things are cool?

Keep in mind that American Airlines would not even allow an armed Secret Service Agent to fly even with proper credentials. cnn story So trained security staff with the luxury of being able to carefully review somebody's credentials, call their supervisor and do all of this without having a .40 caliber glock pointed at them still can get it wrong.... But 180 or so of untrained passengers better just take it on faith?

Anyone in plain clothes displaying a firearm and trying to take control of a plain cabin better have a damn good way of quickly identifying themselves as law enforcement.... I hope that the plan is a little better than pulling out a 4-inch badge and an using the command voice...