College Student Says a TSA Employee Played a Prank on Her
Airport screener pretended to find a baggie of drugs in a student's bag.
Jan. 22, 2010 — -- College student Rebecca Solomon never expected to become the target of a prank orchestrated by a TSA employee.
But that's exactly what happened when a Transportation Security Administration agent at a checkpoint at the Philadelphia International Airport held a small baggie of white powder up to the shocked 22-year-old student and asked her, "Where did you get this from?"
Solomon, who wrote an editorial in The Michigan Daily, her college's student newspaper, detailing the incident, said that she was the "epitome of compliance" and was an "expert traveler" thanks to her frequent trips between Ann Arbor and Philadelphia, which is why she was so surprised at the sight of the baggie she swore wasn't hers.
Her first thought when she saw the baggie, Solomon wrote, was that she had left her bag on the ground when she was looking for her license to show another security guard. She figured that "terrorists slipped bomb-detonating powder into my bag.
"I immediately told him I had no idea where the bag came from, and that I hadn't left my bags unattended -- a cardinal sin in airport security," wrote Solomon, who didn't return messages left by ABCNews.com.
"He let me stutter through an explanation for the longest minute of my life. Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him to understand that I'd never seen this baggie before," said Solomon.
But then, according to Solomon, the TSA employee began to smile and told her that the whole thing had been a joke -- he was "just kidding."
The prank prompted Solomon to ask for a supervisor, who immediately removed the employee from the floor.
The TSA released the following statement regarding Solomon's incident to ABCNews.com: "The behavior exhibited by this TSA employee was highly inappropriate and unprofessional.
"TSA can assure travelers that disciplinary action was taken by TSA management at Philadelphia International Airport, and the employee expressed remorse for his actions," read the statement. "This individual is no longer employed by TSA. "
