A Transportation Security Administration agent is facing fire after he was caught on camera ordering a boy, 16, to stop videotaping the security point pat-down of his father, despite the fact TSA itself declares such filming quite OK.
The video, as reported by WDSU News 6, shows the teen and his dad in a dispute with a TSA agent at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, after the official ordered the boy to stop filming his father's pat-down procedure.
"Officer, I need this gentleman gone," the TSA agent says in the video.
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The teen is heard pointing out to the TSA agent his videotaping is legal by the agency's own rules, as posted on its Internet page. But the explanation didn't fly.
"I don't care what he's seen on the Internet," the agent says, on the video. "I didn't put that website on."
The boy then says, "I can show it to you because you clearly don't know the rules. This is unbelievable."
The father adds, after his pat-down is complete: "The way you talk to people is [expletive]."
Toward the end of the exchange, the TSA agent is heard warning the teen to "be careful" how he speaks to a federal official.
"Be careful what you say," the agent said, "because I do have authority to take you right off this checkpoint. ... You don't like this? You respect this badge right here."
The TSA website states the agency does "not prohibit the public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping or filming at security checkpoints, as long as the screening process is not interfered with or slowed down." The site also says "taking photographs may also prompt airport police or a TSA official to ask what your purpose is."
The video of the confrontation with the TSA agent has nearly 400,000 views after being posted for only two days.