Woman Says TSA Forced Piercings Removal

UPDATE:

The Transportation Security Administration said it will change they way its officers search passengers with body piercings after a Texas woman complained she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane.

Mandi Hamlin, 37, had demanded an apology and her Los Angeles-based attorney sent a letter to the TSA this week requesting a civil rights investigation.

Keep reading AP story.

This was in response to an incident at the Lubbock airport on Thursday.

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a well-known Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.

Keep reading AP story.

Comments

[GQTaste]

03:01 AM on 04/01/2008

Another reason why you people will lose another election. You want somebody to blame? Blame the mother fucking people that killed 300+ people in '01. Remember them? This women is 37 yrs old. 37! She's a grown ass adult, wearing something a 22 yr old would, maybe. And if she's too stupid enough not to realize that the ring would be a problem w/ the metal detectors than she's dumb as dogshit!

But go ahead and blame the people that's attempting to make up safe to travel. That makes sense to me. Don't blame a problem flyer, whose asking for trouble. Blame the dude who makes $8 an hour. who is only trying to follow the rules he/she's been given.

Some of you are fucking clueless.

[LeftRight]

02:14 PM on 04/01/2008

First, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 killed 3 THOUSAND plus people, NOT 3 HUNDRED plus.

Second, I don't remember them taking over the airplanes with their nipple rings...... I'm pretty sure that would have made the news, but all that I can remember is the box cutters.

Third, I'm not going to give up my civil rights just so that YOU can "feel safe."

I am going to blame the idiots who wouldn't consider that maybe, just maybe the nipple rings on this woman's breast MIGHT just be NIPPLE RINGS!!

And finally, do you blame rape victims for "dressing sexy" when they get raped!

[GQTaste]

02:51 AM on 04/01/2008

Some of you guys really are some pussies. After all that we've been through you want to take up for the dumbass that puts holes through their tities and think they're the victims. Please toughen the fuck up!

It's those peoples jobs to make sure you people (passengers) are safe to travel. IF not, it's your death and they'll be blamed for lax security. And the women w/ the ring through her nipple was embarassed? Give me a fucking break and you people need to get over being complete and utter babies.

If the chick or dude wants to screw w/ their bodies thats their business but when it comes to protection of others well then tough titty! Pun intended. Because I have a feeling if that you were one of the passengers on that plain you just might have a different opionion on the matter. For once think of soembody other than yourselves. Just once. I know it's hard for you folks but it's not easy work for the folks at the airport.

[LeftRight]

02:17 PM on 04/01/2008

If they want to place a ring in their nipples, they are allowed to do that. It's perfectly legal, and an INDIVIDUAL'S CHOICE! Perhaps you remember that idea. It's what the republicans supposedly stand for, the reason that we are all screwed economically, since they stopped regulating because it was "too intrusive!"

Once again, YOUR rights end at the end of MY nose! Stop trying to blame the victim here for the heinous actions of the TSA agents!

[fcsakes]

09:50 AM on 03/31/2008

But, but, but, most of the people who HAVE nipple rings say the pain is the thing! Those endorphins, wow!

[mbaty]

07:44 PM on 03/30/2008

These airport security bastards have gone too far, manipulating a woman into seeing her breasts in the name of "safety." Yeah, got any piercings on any other 'naughty' body parts? Better check my prince albert--you know, for "safety" reasons. But be careful, while you're down there I may just "hair gel" you to death. Let's hope she sues and wins.

[WorkingClass]

06:14 PM on 03/30/2008

If I am struck by lightning I could die. But I'm not afraid of that happening. Are you? My chance of being killed by lightning is greater than my chance of being killed by a terrorist. What are the odds against being killed by a terrorist armed with a nipple ring. Pretty unlikely I'd say. So why did this happen? Why are Americans being bullied for no reason by petty officials? Where are the leaders who will organize us against these ass holes? We need to open up a giant can of WHOPP ASS in this country.

[ENK727]

01:39 PM on 03/30/2008

Why do people pierce their nipples anyway???? OUCH is all I can say. Makes me sick thinking about it. Plus didn't she figure the metal detectors were going to be buzzing. Give me a break this whole story is ridiculous... serves her right in a way.

[LeftRight]

02:58 PM on 03/30/2008

First, it doesn't matter WHY she did it, it's her body, it's her choice!

Second, it doesn't matter whether she figured that the machine would go off, AND it DIDN'T! Therefore there's no there there.

And to blame her for the humiliation forced upon her by the TSA is the same as telling a rape victim that it's her fault for dressing sexy!

[ENK727]

08:50 PM on 03/30/2008

I still stand by my comments what a looney toon to pierce her nips!!

[Lemeritus]

12:50 PM on 03/30/2008

Two days after my last post on this issue, I'm still disturbed by the abuse, discourtesy and frequent indignity everyone flying in the US today has to endure from TSA. Perhaps it would be different if TSA did the job it was intended to do, but we regularly read of potentially dangerous weapons being passed through security -- some people make a hobby of doing just this.

Any complaint concerning the behavior of TSA agents when the injury occurs are routinely met with threats of refusing to allow people to make their flight, sometimes with threats of banning them from airports altogether. I know of one person so threatened simply by pointing out that she could not identify her belongings because the TSA agent refused to return her glasses (dangerous things, glasses, it might indicate someone reads or, at the very least, needs them to discern which of the many things trundling down the conveyor belt belongs to them).

Does anyone know exactly what the procedure is for calling TSA agents to account? Are they accountable???? Who has oversight on this agency and what do we need to do to change it?

[OttoMann]

07:16 PM on 03/30/2008

Yeah, the irony here is that whole screening process is a farce to begin with. A big show to create the illusion of safety. Or, more to the point, to create the illusion that they're on top of things. Take off your shoes, occasionally get pulled aside for the bigger Dog and Pony act. Effective? Yes, if you're trying to create the illusion; no, if you're actually trying to prevent a future 9/11 (which is not going to involve airplanes anyway, you can be sure. Anything but).

[LivingStardust]

09:39 AM on 03/30/2008

If you can manufacture an explosive and detonator in a nipple ring sized package capable of doing substantial damage to anything or anyone (other than the person wearing it), YOU HAVE ALIEN TECHNOLOGY. Pony up! We need to replace oil so we can replace the fascists.

[totalliberal]

01:51 AM on 03/29/2008

Maybe the inpectors read this NY Post headline before going to work:

"Dozens of planes falling from the sky all over the US. Exploding nipple rings thougt to be the cause."

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

11:53 AM on 03/31/2008

ROFLMAO....

[totalliberal]

01:48 AM on 03/29/2008

["Hey, I wonder, who searches these jerks before they go to work at the airport???"]



Ya, they obviously have huge empty cranial cavities that could hold any sort of weapon.

[jj]

01:43 AM on 03/29/2008

All of this because Bush couldn't read, "BIn Laden Determined to Attack the United States."

It's one thing to have daddy's business partners cover your inadequate lazy ass your whole life, but it's been seven years of a whole country doing it.

Enough.

[NoSillyName]

12:07 AM on 03/29/2008

HA! That picture! On the left, a women with no sense of humor, but one who used a Maidenform bra dummy torso from the '60s tv commercials (in the middle) and on the right.... is that a woman? Is it the woman with the nipple piercings? Oh dear. I'm sorry. I know the TSA workers are mostly a bunch of rent-a-cops, but that picture looks like it belongs in a Monty Python sketch.

[jsvg00]

08:56 PM on 03/28/2008

I think they should remove all nipple piercings.

Firstly, you remember Janet Jackson's nipple attire during the superbowl - it caused over 2 million adolescent boys to masturbate. You can't win a war on terror with over 2 million males locked in the bathroom.

Secondly, weapons can easily be disguised as nipple attire. In the movie Austin Powers, some terrorist type babes' nipples turn into machine guns. In Double Agent 73, a womans breast is used as a camera - and it flashed. In the film Wonder Women, a nipple ring was actually a pin for an implanted hand-grenade.

They are just trying to protect our country.

God help us if they ever watch attack of the killer tomatoes...

[LeftRight]

03:00 PM on 03/30/2008

Man, I was about to hit reply and then SLAM you. Then I read the rest of the satirical comment!

[kardwell]

07:16 PM on 03/28/2008

I hope she sues the S**T out of the TSA and wins. BIG.

[wsblake]

07:09 PM on 03/28/2008

Hey, that's just too damn bad. We just can't let our guard down for a minute. Islamofascism is cunning- you never know where it will hide. Evildoing terrorists will stop at nothing, so great is there hatred for our freedoms. So,if those rent a cops have to strip search your wife and daughters well, hey, it's for your own good. You should be proud to be bending over yourself to have one of these patriotic $8buck an hour cops stick a flashlight up your butt.