Michael Roberts Express Jet Pilot Refuses Body Scan, Banned From Flying (VIDEO, POLL)

A pilot for ExpressJet Airlines is filing a lawsuit against the Government for violating what he considers his 4th amendment right, according to ABC News.

1st Officer Michael Roberts refused to go through the new full body scans at the Memphis airport he has flown from for years. The TSA told him he could not fly if he did not go through the new scans and be subjected to a full body pat down.

Roberts says he was "outraged" and that the "4th Amendment is there for a reason."

He claims to be filing the lawsuit "for his kids" because he's scared of the world they are growing up in.

WATCH below and let us know what you think!

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Should Roberts be forced to go through the scanners?

Absolutely, we all have to!

No, he's right, it's a violation.

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Comments

[Carpool Kathleen]

03:01 PM on 11/18/2010

I don't understand what the "outrage" over the scans is about. Who's afraid of people seeing X-ray images of their body?

[SpatialD]

03:16 PM on 10/27/2010

Folks, I apologize for being such a blathering buffoon last week. I didn't sleep for ELEVEN days (didn't even know you could do that) and was pretty freaked out in general as I'm sure you can imagine. Did CNN this morning and I think it was a lot better now that I've slept and calmed down a bit.

The problem with suing the federal government is when you show up to court, the defendant is sitting on the bench! We The People must be the ones to defend the natural rights which the Constitution of the United States was drafted to uphold as our most cherished national treasure. The Constitution serves as a reminder of who we are. It does not and cannot protect us. The courts cannot protect us. It is our duty alone as individual, sovereign citizens to defend the rights and liberty passed down to us by refusing to ever exchange them for the beguiling comfort of a false sense of security. We cannot wait for the courts to decide. Rather, we as a nation must make our determination unmistakably clear before the time comes for them to record our verdict in the matter. In peaceful revolution, let's restore our nation to the first and best of the ideals upon which it was established, not looking away from the many horrors that have also transpired, lest any of them return to haunt us.

See my comments below and find me on Facebook.

-m.

[GrannyMiller]

08:45 PM on 10/27/2010

You & your family are in my prayers. John W. from the Rutherford Institute is a wonderful person and very good lawyer. You are in good hands.

[SpatialD]

02:19 PM on 10/28/2010

Thank you so much. Yeah, I feel the same way about John since meeting him. I'm very grateful to everyone who showed up to help me find representation. The spirit of freedom is still alive in this land, even if it is being fiercely oppressed by our own home grown terrorists. They're the ones we really need to guard against!

[General Public]

04:27 PM on 11/06/2010

I am sorry for what you've had to go through and I agree with you standing on principle against unreasonable search and seizure. 74.36% of people here agree with you, according to the poll on this page. I have fanned you and wish you good luck in the case.

[leftbehind2000]

11:57 PM on 10/26/2010

Michael Roberts is right, and I hope he wins.

Now we need someone who works for a company who does random drug testing to step to the plate. Or the cup, as it were.

[Archie1955]

06:02 PM on 10/26/2010

Americans have allowed their fascist government to control their very bodies, to view them naked or touch their genitals whenever they desire to do so. How extremely perverse is that? I simply would not put myself in that disgusting position. There is absolutely nothing in the US that would make me want to visit there by flying into this egregious and disgusting scenario. You can keep it and all you poor little fools who are so blatantly lacking in self respect can continue to show the Homeland Security perverts all you've got.

[DanoX]

08:50 PM on 10/25/2010

Experts agree, scanners don't work.

[HighDesertBob]

07:03 PM on 10/25/2010

Typical response from a pilot, they think the rules don't apply to them. You should have seen them at security after 9/11 when they were forced to go through the same line as the unwashed masses. You would have thought they were being forced to eat airline food. Pilots in an airport act like doctors in a hospital, snooty.

[Grimmsd]

04:15 PM on 10/26/2010

Really now?
A pilot doesn't need anything to take over a plane. He already has control. Just wait for the co-pilot to use the bathroom, lock the cockpit door and you can do anything you want.
If the pilot had an Uzi it wouldn't give him any more control.

This is about control, not safety. If it was about safety we wouldn't be bothering the pilots. This is about making everyone bow to the will of the authorities, the people that are supposed to be doing our will, not the other way around.

[SpatialD]

03:09 PM on 10/27/2010

It's not about me being a pilot (although it is a little ridiculous since I'm going to have my hands ON THE CONTROLS in a matter of minutes anyway). This is an overreaching of the state against every member of the traveling public.

And as for the rules, I am/was an instructor in the airline's training department. In the Human Factors division, I didn't teach how the airplane work, I taught how the RULES work, and how they keep us safe. I also taught the TSA mandated security portion of our training program because Human Factors got saddled with it when none of the departments wanted to do it. TSA is a (bad) joke and we all knew it.

Michael.

[Trinity718]

07:43 PM on 11/08/2010

As a flight attendant, I do agree that TSA stands for Thousands Standing Around, although their smoke & mirrors made the flying public "feel safer". After 9/11 they seemed to harass flight crews with their new-found power. In Oakland they were sued by FA groups for their pat downs, which were over zealous. I would not enter a scanner, but love my job and would be willing to deal with the pat down......even though I think it's ridiculous and a power play. Good luck to you. I hope this becomes something people talk and think about.

[Valicia Hale]

11:29 PM on 11/15/2010

You're to be applauded for standing up and taking this hit Michael, as a pilot it got the visibility and sadly cost you in the process. Have you considered a class action calling upon those who've been intimidated into compliance against their will to either lose their flight or submit to join the action? Not being a lawyer I suppose it would be a separate filing as you are answering their lame charges but this issue has a lot of opposition and perhaps your case will open it up and stop this violation of our rights.

I sure wish you all the success and support in the world and admire your guts in taking this stand. We need to write letters of support and protest and if you have any direction where letters would best serve your case please advise.

[O Dannyboy]

01:03 PM on 10/25/2010

Hey. Sharia law forbids graven images, don't it?

I got a genius idea!

[MajorKong]

12:43 PM on 10/25/2010

The last time I got frisked I told the TSA guy "You have to at least buy me dinner first if you want to touch me there".

[angrymanspokane]

12:40 PM on 10/25/2010

I guess they want to make sure he doesn't have a weapon or a bomb, he might hijack his own plane... we can't trust those pilots.

Fear has now surrendeded to foolishness.

[O Dannyboy]

01:08 PM on 10/25/2010

Or maybe they want to make sure he doesn't have a pocketknife which could be taken from him and used to slit his throat, and perhaps yours, thereby creating a vacancy in the cockpit and a big change in plans for where to land the plane.

[tck29]

11:17 AM on 10/25/2010

These images leave practically everything to the imagination.

Why are you all so paranoid?

[ForVivi]

09:17 PM on 10/25/2010

Scanner technicians with a vivid imagination.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

11:14 PM on 10/25/2010

The images shown here are not the real images.

[SpatialD]

03:02 PM on 10/27/2010

That's right. With the real images, unlike TSA's propaganda, they can see whether a man is circumsized or a woman is menstruating. Do some research. It's creepy.

Michael.

[Peter007]

07:44 AM on 10/25/2010

Last week in Miami I told the security man that I didn't want to go through the "naked Picture" machine. They singled me out for a pat down.
If everyone opted out, the value of the machine would be worthless.

If you act like sheep, they will treat you like sheep and lead you to slaughter.

[O Dannyboy]

12:53 PM on 10/25/2010

If I may paraphrase:
"Hey, I'm not willing to be photographed like some sheep. Therefore I insist you run your hands all over my body."

I guess you showed them.

As for being lead to slaughter, I think the term slaughter would apply to the unfortunate victims aboard the 911 airliners, whereas the technology you fear would have saved their lives.

[Peter007]

06:20 PM on 10/25/2010

No it won't. Thats a silly statement.
Allowing the plane to be turned over to hijackers, as was the policy, was the only reason they could take over the plane. That policy ended 30 minutes after the first plane hit and the passengers ended the 3rd hijacking without any assistance from the authorities.

[DanoX]

08:52 PM on 10/25/2010

Experts all agree, scanners don't work and would in no way shape or form have prevented 9/11.

[ForVivi]

09:17 PM on 10/25/2010

So instead of looking at a person they feel them?

[Peter007]

08:07 AM on 10/26/2010

Without any security, you have a greater chance of being hit by lightning than of being in a hijacked plane. Using security in place last year, you would have a better chance of going to the moon than getting into a high jacked plane.

The current x-ray system is over kill and its a pork barrel prize for a campaign contributor.

[mamacat]

06:44 AM on 10/25/2010

I don't know about anyone else, but when I get on a plane with a White man who has refused to take a scan or to be searched, I am very afraid.

[taxpayertoo]

12:28 PM on 10/25/2010

Nice!

[O Dannyboy]

12:55 PM on 10/25/2010

Now you've done it. You are officially no longer allowed to ask Click and Clack why your Chevy Vega has that funny smell.

[O Dannyboy]

01:09 PM on 10/25/2010

... unless you do so from a FOX affiliate.

[skymuffin]

01:35 AM on 10/25/2010

Well, if this gets to the Supreme Court, good luck on that. And if the Tea Party is in control, well, the Christine O'Donnells of the world didn't read all the way to the 4th Amendment...

[MikeElPaso]

11:54 PM on 10/24/2010

Shots of you in the nude at the airport, coming to a youtube screen near you, your co-workers, relatives who haven's seen you naked, and friends.

Government will investigate and and get your...er, the bottom of it.

[the-lexicon]

11:30 PM on 10/24/2010

When you stop and realize that the people getting TSA jobs today, doing this kind of nonsense, were the people who a few years ago were getting the jobs standing in the road holding the Slow/Stop sign on either side of a drain-cleaning project....you realize the mess we're in.

The people doing that job do it because they're not qualified for a job that involves thinking.

[MikeElPaso]

11:56 PM on 10/24/2010

And guaranteed that they will copy files onto a flash drive for private scrutiny.