Posted on 05/16/2007 7:52:39 AM PDT by E Rocc
Iraq war veteran tells of beating at airport
Soldier accuses Las Vegas police
By DAVID KIHARA REVIEW-JOURNAL National Guard Sgt. Mark England came out of a tour of duty in Iraq with just a hand injury from an insurgent attack near Baghdad in 2004.
His trip to Las Vegas last month, however, ended with a police beating at McCarran International Airport that left him with three broken ribs, he said.
"I could understand if I was in Germany or a foreign country, but we're supposed to be on the same side," England said. "If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone."
The 37-year-old Orange County, Calif., resident said the officer beat him with a nightstick after England got into an argument with a Transportation Security Administration agent who refused to let England take a soda through the security checkpoint last month. England said he also was shocked three times with a Taser before being taken to jail.
England, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 205 pounds, said he was not aggressive and was polite to all of the authorities he dealt with that night. He and his wife say surveillance footage from the night in question will prove him innocent, but England can't get copies of it.
"It will show I was never a threat to the officer," he said.
Officials said police will get the surveillance tapes within the next few days.
Elaine Sanchez, public affairs and marketing manager for McCarran, said release of the tape must be approved by the Clark County Department of Aviation and the Transportation Security Administration, because the airport owns the equipment and the federal agency has jurisdiction over the tapes. She said a copy of the tape was not given to England because of the ongoing investigation.
Police Internal Affairs investigators are looking into England's allegations but can't discuss it because it is an ongoing investigation, said Bill Cassell, spokesman for the Las Vegas police.
England is facing charges of resisting arrest and violating airport rules. He and his lawyer have been unable to get anyone to tell them exactly what airport rule he violated. England's arraignment is slated for April 10; but his lawyer, Cal Potter, expects that to be postponed because the district attorney hadn't received the case as of Thursday.
England had been sightseeing and gambling in Las Vegas during NASCAR weekend and was scheduled to fly out of McCarran on March 10. He arrived at the airport a little before 6 p.m. Before he went through the Concourse C security checkpoint, he bought a hot dog and a $3.25 soft drink in a cup.
England said he tried to go through the security checkpoint, but a TSA agent told him he couldn't proceed with the food and soda. England told the TSA official he believed that he could bring a soda through the security checkpoint as long as he could show a receipt proving it was purchased at the airport.
According to McCarran officials, you can't take a soda through the security checkpoint even if you have a receipt. You can, however, purchase a drink after passing through the checkpoint.
The TSA official refused to let England pass. England asked to see a supervisor. The supervisor also didn't allow England to pass through the checkpoint. The supervisor also asked to see England's identification and then made copies of his military ID and boarding pass.
"I know it sounds weird, but I have a problem being in the military and having some civilian tell me I'm wrong when I actually thought I was right," England said. "If I'm wrong, I'll admit I'm wrong. But it was their attitude they were giving me" that bothered him.
What really angered England, he said, was the TSA supervisor told him he was a lieutenant in the Army but refused to show any proof of this claim. England pressed him to show a military ID, but the TSA supervisor wouldn't budge.
"I said, 'Sir, with all due respect, that's (expletive) up,' " England said.
A Las Vegas police officer told England to go to his plane's boarding gate, which England did. But he missed his flight.
With several hours to kill before he could catch another flight, England decided to find the TSA supervisor. He met the TSA supervisor and the police officer by the security checkpoint and asked to see the TSA supervisor's boss.
At that point, the Las Vegas police officer asked England to walk with him, England said. They walked about 50 feet from the security checkpoint, and the officer asked to see England's boarding pass.
England fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a dollar bill that he said the officer pulled from his hand and threw on the floor.
England said he asked the officer, "Would you mind picking up that dollar bill from the floor?"
The officer pulled out his handcuffs and told England to turn around and put his hands behind his back. England said the officer placed a hand on his shoulder and that England instinctively rolled his shoulder out from under the officer's hand. The officer then pulled out a baton and yelled at him to get on the floor, England said.
He said the officer hit him multiple times with the baton, breaking three ribs on his left side and injuring his hand and head. Another officer then shocked him with a Taser at least three times, England said.
"I've never seen this much pain in all my life," he said.
When England was released from the Clark County jail the next day, he was bruised and looked horrible, said his friend Ken Dorton who bailed him out.
"My first reaction was, 'Oh my god. What did they do to you?' " said Dorton. He said England had dried blood on his hand and face and a swollen eye.
England admits that he had two beers over several hours before he went to McCarran but said he wasn't intoxicated. He also said he was never disrespectful toward the officer.
"I was raised to honor the police and I've always done that," he said.
He asked to be beaten and arrested? England may not have made the wisest of moves but that is hardly an something to be beaten and arrested for.
It troubles me that on FR, many condone arrest and police beatings if the person arrested wasn't a complete angel.
I'm wrong all the time, so refresh my memory. Vere vas I callink for knucklink under to ze Geshtapo?
I’m not a Bush fan. But one of the things that I agree with is the WOT. I have turned off the evening news and only read FR as I get the truth here. We have friends and relatives in Iraq and what they’re seeing on the ground doesn’t jive with you and the MSM.
He was held in jail. And beaten. On no charges. Without probable cause. You must be one of the police apologists that I keep reading about on FR. If that's the case, we're done.
Not for nothing, but in the civilian world, nobody "outranks" anyone else.
No. What you did was use this thread to push your political POV.
(Not saying they don't treat us like cattle, just that he can't say he didn't know they'd be authoritative goons.)
The beating is (in principle) to subdue a hostile suspect, not as a punishment. If he wasn’t held for 24 hours, he wasn’t “held” in the Constitutional sense.
And if he doesn’t like it, he can sue.
He won’t, for the reason I detailed above.
Well, I’m sorry if she didn’t go into a 3 hour diatribe on the role of police officers as they relate to airport security.
I’m sure you would.
Something that I noticed when I last flew somewhere in 2004 was that some airports let me through with my lighter and some did not. It seems that there are different policies followed by the airports. Or they don’t all enforce the same rules evenly. England stated that he thought you could take a drink on the plane if it was purchased at the airport. Evidently he’d done that before.
What was he suspected of doing?
Dude, the TSA guard claimed to be in the military and that their rank was higher than Englands.
From the article: was the TSA supervisor told him he was a lieutenant in the Army but refused to show any proof of this claim.
Re-sist-ing ar-rest.
It is irrefutable that he did this.
As to what lead up to it, it doesn’t matter at this point. He resisted arrest.
So? He was trying to placate the guy, but the Sgt. decided to be even more confrontational. I wonder if the TSA supervisor was responding to Sgt. England in the same way he would have said, "Well, I'm Commissioner Gordon" if England had asserted that he was Batman.
Yes it does matter. There has to be probable cause in order to arrest someone.
And when he was told otherwise by those in authority... ?
I made the mistake once of questioning the TSA guy over his insistance that my hotel-provided yogurt was not allowed when it was not a liquid or a gel on the list. He and those around him turned on that "how dare you question our authority" look and I quickly dropped the argument and tossed the yogurt into the bin.
I'm not sure who made the biggest mistake. Me for submitting to illegitimate authority on a stupid and pointless regulation or the guy who risked his life and limb fighting for freedom in Iraq who questioned that authority and took the time between flights to press that point with a TSA supervisor.
Someone needs to rid our country of this stupidity perpetrated by TSA in the name of a very FALSE security. There are far too many items, objects, substances, materials, and methods for a determined hijacker to use to hijack a plane that screening for items like liquids, gels, and nail clippers is worthless. We need to screen the PEOPLE, not every object or bevarge that they might be carrying. The Israelis, who have been the targets of far more terrorist acts than we have, have already figured this out and do a good job with it. We need to get this figured out before two inevitable things happen. We need to do it before someone else, like this WoT veteran gets harassed or beaten and jailed. And we need to do it before we're again shown that our current security measures are worthless and another hijacking incident takes place despite our false sense of security.
An assumption. Which doesn't lineup with your post 112. I think she was probably being snarky
He asked questions that got him tased and broken ribs. When I asked at the Tallahassee airport, I got a polite answer. I was told that some airports don't enforce no lighters but they chose too. The TSA worker even allowed me to give the lighter to my sister. She was a nice lady.
Someone needs to rid our country of this stupidity perpetrated by TSA in the name of a very FALSE security. There are far too many items, objects, substances, materials, and methods for a determined hijacker to use to hijack a plane that screening for items like liquids, gels, and nail clippers is worthless. We need to screen the PEOPLE, not every object or bevarge that they might be carrying. The Israelis, who have been the targets of far more terrorist acts than we have, have already figured this out and do a good job with it. We need to get this figured out before two inevitable things happen. We need to do it before someone else, like this WoT veteran gets harassed or beaten and jailed. And we need to do it before we're again shown that our current security measures are worthless and another hijacking incident takes place despite our false sense of security.It's become clear since 9/11 that airport security is all about appearing to be "doing something" rather than actual security. Simply securing the cockpit from in-flight entry (with perhaps an automatic IFF type alarm signal if emergency entry is neccesary) from the rest of the plane will prevent any recurrences of 9/11.
Even the armed air marshalls program was poorly implemented. They have/had a strict "dress code" in flight which makes them stand out like a sore thumb.
-Eric
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