Remember Andrea Abbott, the Tennessee mom who was arrested for “lashing out” at TSA agents who groped her daughter?
Well, she was in court yesterday. Nothing happened since she didn’t plead guilty, so her preliminary hearing was moved to Oct 13. The interesting thing was that The Tennessean has acquired video of the incident and posted it. It’s a little under 5 minutes, and since there is no audio they sped up the playback speed.
Things of note:
- I count at least three Airport cops
- I count two TSA Agents and one guy wearing suit who appears to be a manager
- When Mrs. Abbott tries to record the groping, the very large cop stands in front of her to prevent her from recording it
- At no point does the diminuitive Mrs. Abbot appear physically threatening to anyone (The female TSA agent probably has 60lbs on Mrs. Abott, plus the four other government agents standing within three feet)
- Whatever triggered the arrest must’ve been verbal, because it’s unclear from the video why officers suddenly handcuffed her.
In a perfect world, the charges would be dropped, the airport would apologize, and the officers involved would lose their jobs.
I’ll settle for an acquittal, though.
I would again remind folks that it is 100% legal to record in-person conversations, even with police officers, in Tennessee so long as one party (namely, you) is aware of and consents to the recording. Furthermore, the TSA has repeatedly reiterated their claim that they abide by whatever rules and regulations are in place at a specific location as to whether or not recording of their checkpoints is permitted (which is just braindead from a security standpoint, but that is another matter for another time). Unless the Nashville airport has specific rules against recording on the premises, Andrea was wholly within her rights and legalities to tape the groping of her teenage daughter.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” — President John F. Kennedy, address to the diplomatic corps of the Latin American republics on the first anniversary of the Alliance for Progress, March 13, 1962. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962, p. 223.