No Federal Charges for Atlanta Football Fan in Airport Security Breech

Newsday ^ | 11/18/01

[11th Earl of Mar]

ATLANTA -- A man who dashed through a security checkpoint at the nation's busiest airport, forcing officials to halt flights and evacuate passengers, will not face federal charges, prosecutors said Monday.

Michael Lasseter did not violate any federal laws because he did not board an airplane, and because the screening station guards are not federal agents, said Patrick Crosby, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

[usconservative]

I think not. This is a willful act of negligence and stupidity which inconvenienced thousands, not to mention the millions of dollars it cost the airlines. Which they will probably come to me the taxpayer at some point to get as a subsidy. Idiots like this one, and people who mail white powder as a joke should be made an example of. The country's at war, so everyone should wise up.

Exactly right. And stupid people shouldn't be allowed to breed either.

Bailiff! Whack his pee-pee!!

[lepton]

Ask the same about people mailing innocuous white powder after the anthrax scares.

So goofs that do stupid things are now terrorists?

Please redirect your comments to the person who said that... :)

BTW, that would be post#61

[lepton]

Bailiff! Whack his pee-pee!!

Actually, I think, as long as it wasn't something he'd grown to like, that would be a fair start.

[usconservative]

Look, the guy is a tool, but he did not cause the air traffic shutdowns and the millions in losses. Over-reactive idiots did.

Given the climate we live in today, and the fact that we're at war, what would you have said if they DIDN'T react this way, and the guy brought down a plane with a bomb?

You can't have it both ways Rodney. Not today. Not in this climate. Make an example of this bozo. He was at minimum STUPID, at maximum a boorish jerkwad who thought of noone else, except for himself and his stupid college football obsession.

Either way, I don't care. Sentence him to the max.

[Prodigal Son]

This guy ran around a security checkpoint. He knew it was there because he'd already been through it once that day. He should suffer for the rest of his life, as should the morons who over-reacted.

For the rest of his natural life? Not even rapists receive such a harsh penalty in our society. But you do bring up an interesting point. You say he knew about the security checkpoint because he had already gone through it. It can be argued then(no matter how dubiously) that in his mind at least he constituted no security risk since he had passed the security earlier.

I will give up my US citizenship if it really comes to this. You would lock me up or punish me for life because I inconvenienced people? What about the guy who doesn't want to sell his house to the government so they can build an interstate through his property? He is also "inconveniencing people". Think- Clinton Presidential Library.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Stupid (or idiotic, at least), but I am glad he is not facing federal charges. A caller on Boortz this morning relayed how she was next to the man when he asked for help at the ticket counter. He was told to get to the end of the line, can't do two things at once, blah, blah ususal customer no-service. He tried to explain his son was on the plane, but the person behind the desk was not interested. The caller sounded very credible

She told this story to the airline (not interested) and the FBI (who said the news report did not mention a child).

Yes, there should be consequences for this man. But I am still troubled at how easy it will be to make federal felons out of ordinary innocent (but stupid) citizens. Could be anyone of us in a brain dead moment.

[usconservative]

He didn't commit a crime (by traditional definition). What he did was fail to follow a rule which is used to detect crimes.

So technically, when I drive 65mph in a 55mph zone I'm not breaking the law, I'm merely "failing to follow it?"

You've *got* to be kidding! Just when I thought I'd seen all the damage that Clinton managed to do to this country over 8 years, along comes a dumb comment like that.

It just gets better every day around here (/sarcasm)

[heleny]

So goofs that do stupid things are now terrorists?

My anthrax comparison was somewhat inappropriate. If someone mails white powder, they're just dumb because it's not dangerous but current events make it a potential waste of resources.
In the case of this airport security breach, the man evaded the mandatory security checks. Not only did he waste resources, but he also committed a crime.
Neither case is necessarily terrorism, but one is clearly wrong. It shouldn't beget the punishment for terrorism, but a slap on the wrist isn't enough.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

It gets lonely being the only person in this country capable of making foolish, idiotic, but innocent mistakes.

What is scary is the number of our fellow freepers who seem to be willing to hang anyone out to dry.

[usconservative]

Walking past the checkpoint was something that he has a responsibility for. The irrational panic, in part caused by poor procedures, and other bureaucratic stupidity, is not rightfully his.

What news report did you see/read/hear? All the ones I saw up here in the Chicago market said he didn't "walk past" ... he ran according to witnesses. And also according to witnesses, he was pursued IMMEDIATELY upon running past the checkpoint and ignored people who were yelling at him to *STOP!*

You make it sound soooooooooooooo innocent. This guy is a jerk. You or anyone else can't tell me that he didn't *know* he wasn't going to trigger suspicion when he ran past security.

And this guy is an officer (or something) at a bank?? He's trusted with other people's money? If I were a customer at that bank, I'd have closed my accounts THAT DAY for hiring someone THAT STUPID!

[Winfield]

Why, of all the curse words available, do people choose to use "Jesus Christ" as a curse??? I have always been amazed that no one ever says, "Satan", or "mother of Satan" or "I'll be Satan damned", etc. I really do know the reason, but can't understand why those of you that do it can't realize how offensive it is to others when you take the Lord's name in vain. Then again, maybe you just don't care.

[Uncle Fud]

I would wish that hysterical over-reaction were a crime too....

[Zorobabel]

Yeah! Hang the bum! Running through airports! We all know what that leads to. Look at OJ Simpson, he used to run through airports all the time, and look how he turned out.

[Leroy S. Mort]

The point wasn't that he was running down an up escalator. The point was that he ran around the metal detectors and security checks and the security folks have to assume a worse case scenario.

I'd be willing to bet you that there were no "metal detectors" and a very disinterested "security" guard at the top of that up escalator who probably didn't wake up until some airport patron jogged him/her. The up escalators at Hartsfield are nowhere near the security gates.

[Criminal Number 18F]

How did they catch him? I thought he disappeared.

Despite all the publicity about the guy, and the army or cops/agents in ninja suits hunting him, and the fact that he was wearing a pretty unmistakable bright orange football-fan jersey (which was accurately described by the "security" cretin that pulled the alarm over him), he was spotted by a pilot, not any of the "professional" law enforcers or National Guard goon squads.

You know, the ones that don't trust the pilots and are subjecting them to extra scrutiny.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

PS -- this is what he actually did: Leave the plane and go back into the concourse to try to find a camera that had come up missing -- probably stolen by one of the abovementioned security droolers -- and when he realised he wasn't going to make it out and back to the plane in time, turned around and went back, as it were "up the down escalator to where he had come from. The security screener saw this and described it accurately, and no one was ever in any danger, nor was there any reason for the panic that ensued.
-C18F.

[Jay W]

I'm getting mighty tired of this "don't you know there's a war on?"

The source of this confusion is in Congress deciding to NOT Declare War. In the days that followed 9-11 there were a lot of people here, including myself, who wanted Congress to Declare War.

For whatever reason, Congress decided NOT to Declare War.

Thus, officially, there is no war, because Congress in its supposed infinite wisdom decided that it did not need to make such a declaration, never mind the fact that in terms of the sheer numbers of lives lost and property destroyed the "events" of 9-11 were far greater in scale than the Pearl Harbor attack.

So, who are we to second-guess Congress?

There is no war, just military action.

If Congress had Declared War, there would be no confusion about "don't we know there's a war going on?"

By the way, for the Constitution illiterates -- of which there are many on FR -- ONLY the Congress has the Power to Declare War. No other branch of government has that Power.

[kosta50]

One was a criminal act; the other wasn't.

[uncommonsense]

My hopes were that this complete moron had not passed on his genes yet. If this guy would have – say – cut in the bathroom line at a hockey game – he would have been executed.

[don-o]

I'm getting mighty tired of this "don't you know there's a war on?" excuse as a tactic of criminalizing every Tom, Dick, & Harry, all the better to advance the aims of Big Brother.

Romulus, old friend, you usually are spot on in insisting on a factual approch - at least on the religious threads.

Fact of the matter is that this dimwit should have noticed that getting to the plane last Friday was a bit different than it was on 9/10.

There are men in uniform carrying weapons all around. Even the dumbest Georgia Bulldog fan might have asked another dumb Georgia Bulldog fan. "What are these uniformed men carrying weapons here at the busiest airport in America"

The answer is the DGBF weighed the odds. He knew full well what he was doing. I'll wager he was in pre-game mode (moderately tanked) and with impaired judgement made a DGBF conclusion: "I can pull this off. And what a great story to tell the other DGBF's."

DGBF = Dumb Georgia Bulldog Fan.

Their name is Legion

[FITZ]

Look at OJ Simpson, he used to run through airports all the time, and look how he turned out.

LOL!!!