A 24-year-old TSA employee was driving near the Memphis airort when she was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper. She was asked to exit the vehicle – and she refused when the officer wouldn’t explain why he wanted her out of the car. The trooper “reached into the car and grabbed [her] and threw [her] against the car,” she says.
The TSA screener was arrested and charged with reckless driving, resisting arrest, improper passing and improper lane change. She says she wasn’t drunk or high.
A bystander recorded the video of the stop and her arrest and it went viral. She was fired for violating their social media guidelines – even though she’s not the one who posted the video, it “could reasonably be expected to cause an unwarranted disruption” to the agency’s mission or public trust and so it triggers disciplinary action.
She’d already been working through the government shutdown with her pay paused. Her termination places even her back-pay when the shutdown ends at risk.
I have three main reactions to this:
- The screener was in uniform, even if they were off-duty. So they do still represent the agency.
- If law enforcement tells you to get out of the vehicle, refusing isn’t going to end well even if you’re ultimately right. The officer isn’t going to just drive off when you refuse.
- There’s a certain irony in the TSA employee refusing to follow silly directions from an officer.
At the same time, she may have been pulled over for “driving while black” and her “resisting arrest” largely was comprised of challenging the cop use of authority to pull her over and make her get out of the vehicle. It wasn’t a physical confrontation. Still, and especially in her position, it seems like a good idea to comply now, argue later.
This was hardly the worst airport security traffic stop. At around 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day 2004, the Acting Federal Security Director for TSA at Washington Dulles airport was pulled over by Airport Authority police for erratic driving near the airport. He blew a 0.26 – more than three times he legal limit. In his defense, he argued he was off-duty. However, since the airport was under a “Code Orange” alert, he was actually supposed to still be on duty.
We knew the way this was going when she Refused to get out of the car? How do these people think they don’t have to do one simple thing, and then have all the libs complain about the outcome?
Remember no one is above the law!
Protecting America’s skies, folks!
Gee Jay, I don’t see any “libs” complaining here. In fact I agree with you about the car issue. I also agree about nobody being above the law, though it is too bad that a certain person in D.C. thinks he can incite a riot, impose tariffs, murder people and tear down buildings without following any laws or procedures.
I don’t think driving while black would be as common in Memphis, Tennessee. she was still in uniform and that probably violated some sort of ethics rules.
The number of people that are unaware of Penn V Mimms is astounding.
Thank you Gary for sharing the important travel news, like when TSA employees commit traffic offenses and resist arrest. This will surely help my travel planning in the future. At least the unhinged leftist crowd here gets another chance to connect every random event with their deranged worldview. Pace yourself, toddlers, you got to meter this out over 3 years.
Not great. Gary has the nuanced take. Easy for some of you to say ‘just follow the law’ or ‘follow instructions’ but that’s easier said than done. Many of us drive, and going 1 mph over the speed limit is technically grounds for a stop and removal from your vehicle. Remember that next time you drive.
Chapter 1 I. The Ben Crump book of how to become a millionaire. Resist arrest at all costs. Never ever comply with police officer commands. Have small amounts of drugs in your possession. Have an expired tag and or a history of moving violations. Once the police pull you out of the car, start crying racism even though the officer might be of color as well. After your arrest and when you get your free phone call, make it to 1-800-pay- crump.
Even doctors can contract TDS. Sad.
My father taught me there are three words you say to a police officer
Yes, sir
and
No, sir
If a police officer tells you to exit the vehicle, you exit the vehicle
There are so many people that immediately go on the defensive for the slightest reason. If one is pulled over by the police, just follow the officer’s instructions. When one gets combative, things are going to go horribly wrong. Then, pulling the race card just adds to the misery. Lady, just get out of the damned car when you’re told. Being in uniform, this woman still represents her company brand even though that brand is a federal government agency.Buh bye!
@Coffee Please — If the officer did anything inappropriate, you’d hope the victim gets representation and paid.
@David — How’s your ODS doing?
@Mets Fan in NC — Better be white as a snowflake.
Mets Fan In NYC: You must be counting in metric math.
@Mets fan in NC
Your father taught you right. My dad told me the same thing.
@drrichard — We don’t need to use our imagination to guess how some of these ‘folks’ would be posting here if it had been a white TSA screener stopped and forcibly removed by a black or latino cop during #46’s presidency… they’d claim it was tyranny, and likely do another J6… lest we forget how they feel about law enforcement.
No one has said anything about what working for no pay for what appears to be an unnecessarily long stretch does to one’s stress level and could contribute to making a poor choice when confronted with this situation……none of you have never been stressed out and done or said something you regret?
Recall how it went from “Papers!” To “But, we were just following orders.” Interesting how you ‘libertarian’ folks espouse adherence to ‘authority’ now. What could have changed… hmm.
@Win Whitmire — Easier said than done. Surely, no racial profiling, or abuses of power ever happen… *officer smashes taillight* (‘Are those drugs?!’) *throws little white baggie into car*
@Coffee Please — Taugh ‘em…right(wing).
1. No one is above the law…including law enforcement. We have seen too many disturbing videos of law enforcement abusing power. She had every right to ask why she was being told to exit the vehicle.
2. It’s rich that the people on here who support a President advocating for extrajudicial killings wonder why some folks might be weary of law enforcement.
3. Driving to work in your uniform is not the same as knocking off a liquor store in it. False equivalency.
Agree with @JohnW! Why does the disciplinary action have to escalate immediately to termination for a posting that she didn’t even do? Sounds like lazy/fearful management to me – give her some penalty and get her back to work! And how did the cop escalate to attacking her in her car? Sounds like he doesn’t have very good communication/persuasion skills for his job.
@1990 you agree to those terms when you drive. Don’t like it? Don’t drive. It’s very simple. Driving is a privilege, not a right.
@ANAL — Agreed. So, when you drive 1 mph over the limit, you, too, are an ‘illegal.’ Uh oh, get ready to be renditioned to a forever-gulag in El Salvador…
It is telling, how quickly that thin gauze of libertarianism, supposedly held dear by certain commenters, so easily tears and melts away, now that our national power dynamics has swung to hard authoritarianism.
I’m on her side.
@1990 The punishment for driving over 1 mph isn’t deportation, it’s a speeding ticket. If you enter this country (and ANY other country) illegally expect to be arrested and deported. It’s simple facts. Quit being such a drama queen.
What has not getting paid, which I agree is not fair, have to do with a traffic stop? If she felt she was being wrong take it to court and have a judge throw it out.
@1990
Come on man. I hope you believe in following the law and complying with officer’s instructions. If not then suffer the consequences and then call Ben Crump like the rest of them.
@Coffee Please, @ANAL — Ah, yes, the ole ‘we must follow the law, and also, the law is whatever I say it is.’ Reminds me of the Republican mantras of ‘rules for thee, but not for me’ and ‘don’t care until it happens to me.’ Totally unrelated, how’s that new Versailles coming along at the East Wing?
The only problem here is, if they fired her for violating social media policy… Since she didn’t post the video a judge is likely to side with her and she’s likely going to get paid pretty well for this. It doesn’t matter what she did since that’s the excuse they used it’s probably going to bite them in the A**.
Have to laugh at the nobody is above the law comments coming from the right leaning folks….kind of laughable when you have a PTOS that pardoned people that attacked Capital Guards and vandalized Government property….many of these people have already gone on to commit more felonies……even worse, everyone knows Trump was lying when he stirred them up!
History is going to have a field day with that reality long after we are gone.
Gary, I was nodding along with your entire piece until I stumbled on your characterization of a stop for “driving while Black.” Do you believe that this TSA employee was driving within the speed limit, following traffic rules and stopped only because the cop could make out that she was Black from behind her vehicle on a busy highway and wanted to stop a Black driver? Or is it more likely that the driver was actually speeding and/or driving erratically and stopped for that offense? While there are certainly cases of “driving while Black“ stops, this is a common objection raised by drivers when stopped for actual offenses. Are you suggesting that traffic enforcement should be permanently suspended for Black drivers because we can’t know whether they were stopped because of the offense or their race?
@Ben B — Yeah, yeah… ‘racism’ isn’t a thing anymore. Good one. Visit VFTW regularly enough and you’ll find bigotry is alive and well these days, sadly. @Walter Barry, @Not Scott, where you at?
Driving while black and pulled over by a black police officer. You just can’t make this stuff up. Hilarious.
Should be noted that NO ONE is working for free. At worst, they are working on a delayed payment basis (suckers) or getting “free” time off. Once the shutdown ends, EVERYONE is awarded full back pay for jobs done or not done (and won’t be made up). It happens every shutdown. Sweet deal if you can tide it over cash wise.
Skip all the drama around her race and her approach. None of us in the comments has a clue what it’s like to be a young black woman in TN. Plus, it’s too subjective to have an obvious resolution. And FWIW, I despise TSA security theater and the power they have despite the pretty low bar to becoming an ‘agent’, so I’m saying this despite my feelings towards the TSA.
I’m focusing on ONE plain fact (even by 2025’s weird definition of facts):
She was fired for violating social media policy – but she DID NOT FILM OR POST IT. She had zero control over what a stranger put out there, but has lost her job and now they’re talking about refusing a month’s backpay? I’m delighted this happened to her, looks like a slamdunk for even a half-assed lawyer who cheated on his bar exam, no “race card” needed.
Recently an ICE agent was arrested for DUI, video all over the internet. No one in uniform is free from the rules of the road. Get a dash cam and argue it in court.
@Katie
Not even sure Ben Crump would take this case. She is wearing a uniform of a Federal employee and probably violating all standards of conduct and behavior when in uniform.
Well said, @Katie. Don’t worry about the haters in the comments. They *should* know better.
She didn’t work without pay. She’s just being paid late. As they all will be. Including the Congressional members who made this mess.
She did the FAFO and got what she deserved.
@cairns — As is the law (since 2019 when they granted guarantees to both furloughed and essential workers), but, #47 doesn’t care; the law is what he says it is, and the Supreme Court decided he can do whatever he wants with impunity. For now, your ‘team’ is in charge; but, what if it wasn’t your ‘guy’… something to think about.
YouTube is full of videos of of White “sovereign citizens” be difficult with cops. It doesn’t end well for them either.
@Thing 1 — Yeppers! Their favorite line: “I don’t fall under the jurisdiction of these laws…” (as they proceed to be arrested.)
@1990, when you wrote “@Ben B — Yeah, yeah… ‘racism’ isn’t a thing anymore. Good one.” I assume you didn’t read my post, which states “there are certainly cases of ‘driving while Black ‘stops…”
The question isn’t whether racism exists. The question is whether we should never enforce traffic laws with Black drivers because it does. When the presumption becomes that any traffic stop of a Black person is racist, “driving while Black,” then we exempt one group from the law on the basis of their race.
Suggestion: next time you are driving on a busy highway, pick out a car ahead of you and guess the race of the driver. Then pull alongside and see if you are right. It’s actually quite tricky to accurately assess the race of the driver from behind at speed.
I agree with Katie…..she was fired for something she did not film or post…..she should.get a lawyer, she deserves every penny she wins in court..
@Ben B — Sure, officers only select their targets from behind; yet another ‘great’ (idea,) again. Great… again. *faceplam*