MIT Student Arrested For Wearing ‘Tech Art’ Shirt At Airport
SuperBanana writes “According to a report by the Boston Globe, MIT Student Star Simpson was nearly shot by Logan Airport police who thought she was armed with a bomb. She approached an airline employee wearing a prototyping board with electronic components, crudely attached to the front of her sweatshirt and holding ‘putty’ in her hand. She asked about an incoming flight, and did not respond when asked about the device. Armed police responded. ‘Simpson was charged with possessing a hoax device and was arraigned today East Boston Municipal Court. She was held on $750 cash bail and ordered to return to court Oct. 29. “Thankfully because she followed our instructions, she ended up in our cell instead of a morgue,” Pare said. “Again, this is a serious offense … I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport.”‘”
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Title: MIT Student Arrested For Wearing ‘Tech Art’ Shirt At Airport
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Author: ~Zonk
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This otherwise intelligent MIT student is very lucky that the professionalism of the law enforcement officers kept this situation in check. Do you have any idea how these things play out in countries where national security professionals are not so professional? A lot of Americans seem to think these days that law enforcement and national security is a joke; some sort of scare tactic of the Bush administration they loath. Well, regardless of your political opinions, we live in a place that a small but determined group of extremists wants to destroy. They don’t care that you are a conservative or a liberal or even tuned out of politics. They care only that you are not a Muslim, and for that you must die. The professionals at Logan International are prepared to meet that threat, and they don’t have the luxury to determine if some hooded person with a “device” is holding Play-Doh or something else meant to do harm. Rational people understand this and do not prank airport security for this reason. She is lucky.
I will agree that she’s lucky, and so is everyone else that was in the vacinity…
All it would have taken was one spooked guard with an itchy finger…