RE: After 2.5 hours the TSA let him go.
Did he miss his flight?
No. He was arriving from an international flight, Paris to Cincinatti. TSA screens people ARRIVING from an international flight. Go figure.
The person in question was an international arrival at Cincinnati that was not connecting. Evidently the international arrivals at Cincinnati come into Concourse B of Terminal 3. In order to get from Concourse B to the "curb" you have to pass through Terminal 3, a secure area.
This wasn't some huge victory for Civil Rights, they just escorted him out of the secure area. The screening of non-connecting passengers at that airport is a function of airport layout and not some special harassment scheme.
I was under the impression he didn’t.