Thursday, April 22, 2010

Apple sauce assault case at Bob Hope Airport thrown out by judge

A judge yesterday threw out a misdemeanor battery charge involving a woman who was accused of hitting an airport security worker during a dispute over taking apple sauce and other items onto a plane at Bob Hope Airport.

Prosecutors charged Nadine Kay Hays, 58, who was travelling to Nashville with her mother, with the battery charge after the reported fight with the Transportation Security Administration agent last April. The agent claimed that Hays made a fist and struck her on the hand during the tussle.



Hays denied striking the agent, arguing that she merely brought down her hand to keep agents from taking away her 93-year-old mother’s apple sauce, cheese and milk, which were inside a cooler.

“I am not going to plead guilty to something I didn’t do. I’m a person of character,” Hays, whose mother died last month, said. “I end up reliving this disaster every spare moment of my life. You just flash back and you see these scenes over and over.”

3 comments:

arbroath said...

I wish more of us had the self worth, the time and the resources to stand up and not take the plea bargains we are offered. (ex. using credit cards to pay fines online instead of a demanding a court date).  Likewise, I wish our system had the time and resources to review each case with the wisdom, fairness, and expediancy they deserve.

arbroath said...

There is no effective punishment or loss of revenue for TSA. This causes a real vicious cycle, because all the pubilicity about this abuse of power, especially the fact that TSA actually pursued this person in court for "assault", simply underscores how powerful TSA is and how much you stand to lose by standing up to them. The more outrageous their behavior, the more publicity, the more clear it becomes that they are not to be messed with or questioned.

neverforget911 said...

This woman is not a hero.  Need I remind you of 9-11!!  There are people who were on those planes that wished there had been better rules in place to guard against that disaster.  There are ways she could have notified TSA about her mom and what she needed to bring on board and she did not due it. Period.  She is 58 not 2 even my 6 year old knows about rules.  Her actions could jepardize my safety!  Not only that taking it out on the TSA worker who is just doing there job makes it more abusive.  If she did not like the rule instead of fighting with the messanger take it up with someone who made the rules, all she had to do was go the the TSA office there in the airport and speak to someone in charge. This lady is an idiot!!