CHICAGO - Prosecutors dropped all charges Wednesday against a man who claimed an airport security guard misheard him when she thought he'd said a sexual device in his backpack actually was a bomb.
Mardin Amin, who appeared in a Cook County Circuit Court Wednesday, has said he actually told the female security guard at O'Hare International Airport last month that the small, black object was a "pump" — as in a penis pump.
His attorney, Eileen O'Neill-Burke, said Thursday that "humiliation aside, the system worked" and the case has had the right outcome.
Prosecutors chose to follow the lead of the Transportation Safety Administration, which recently concluded that the matter did not warrant prosecution, said Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman.
Amin, 29, of Skokie, had been charged with felony disorderly conduct and faced up to three years in prison if convicted.
O'Neill-Burke explained earlier that her client was embarrassed to explain the object to the security guard in front of his mother, who was traveling with him — so he whispered. The guard misunderstood, and thought he had said "bomb," she said.
The attorney added that Amin, an Iraqi, has a thick accent and she herself had trouble understanding him until he brought the pump to her office. She said she recently learned Arabic speakers sometimes have trouble distinguishing "p" and "b" sounds.
O'Neill-Burke said Thursday that Amin's focus now is joining his two young children, ages 2 and 3, who traveled on to Iraq without him after the incident.
I've got a great idea. Let's make everyone show up to the airport naked with your ticket and ID hanging on your neck. No carry on baggage, everything is checked. If you need any medication, it has to be in a pouch around your neck. Then, at the security check point the traveler goes through the xray machine to make sure no one is hhiding anything on or in their person. Then your hands are locked behind your back with plastic handcuffs. On the plane, everyone is handcuffed to their seats. If you need to go to the bathroom, you do so under armed escort. Armed flight attendants administermedication from the pouch as needed.
Humiliating...maybe. Degrading, probably. But at least we will all be safe to travel again.
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May those who love us love us And those who don't love us May God turn their hearts, And if He doesn't turn their hearts, May He turn their ankles, So we'll know them by their limping.
Thanks guys, I'm so glad somebody's retained a sense of humor. I guess time will tell what we'll be willing to suffer in the name of security - proported or real.
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Yr hen Gymraeg i mi, Hon ydyw iaith teimladau, Ac adlais i guriadau Fy nghalon ydyw hi --- Mynyddog
Dear Lord, lest I continue in my complacent ways, help me to remember that someone died for me today. And if there be war, help me to remember to ask and to answer "am I worth dying for?" - Eleanor Roosevelt
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
No, no -- the profile thing is good. See, it all has to do with the size of the nose: it would make so many other things simpler just to focus on that. Small nose good, big nose bad is the inside understanding. However, for public announcements, all noses are equal, but some noses are more equal than others. That is why we have profiling -- you stand the passenger with one cheek three feet from a blank wall and a bright light is shined onto his opposite cheek. The profile tells all -- past a certain size, and some other issues of conformation (high hooked arch bad, for example) and he doesn't get on the plane. No need to strip search.
Now I have a confession to make -- I have a new professor in creative non-fiction writing, who is a fairly young Iranian (fourteen years younger than I am myself, but hey . . . ) . Apart from being a brilliant writer, he is a perfectly heartbreakingly gorgeous man, but his nose is very pronounced, both for size and for conformation. In fact he looks like an ancient babylonian gold coin. I will sit and profile him all day and all night, and if that makes him miss his plane, tough cookies. We might think about strip searching if he protests, though.
Here in the Chicago area, it is not uncommon for an African-American or a Latino to get pulled over in a predominantly white neighborhood. I've also personally been the victim of reverse profiling. I was a white person driving through a predominantly black suburb.
Now, I have no problem if that person's name pops up on a list at the airport checkpoint. If the person can prove they're not the guy los federales are looking for, then no harm no foul. But pulling people out of line simply because of the color of their skin is borderline racist.
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Mike F.
May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
Frankly I just don't think it's males we can trust. I mean, I know I'm a male...but most rapists, serial killers, mass murderers, pedophiles, and other violent criminals are males. We just aren't to be trusted. All males should be forced to have their luggage searched before going on a plane, including their persons if necessary.
Since men aren't to be trusted, only women will be allowed to work in airports. They will also be in charge of security. They will also be the only one allowed to fly planes, be flight attendants, and air marshalls.
Maybe then, when the men are held accountable for the crimes of their gender, will we once again be safe.
Mmm, and don't forget the handcuffs. Not to mention that women hardly ever have penis pumps that could be bombs if they can't talk good Amurcan english.
Ok, so -- is it sorted? Only females with small noses can do airline work or check onto planes without rigorous searches. So look -- just don't try that BS with impounding toiletries again, there's gonna be TROUBLE.
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