Hello everyone:
Recently, I had an interesting experience at an international airport located here in the United States. I was taking a fitness walk, having made it through TSA in record time. While I was making my way around the airport, a TSA agent in front of me suddenly said, “Stop walking.”
I figured the TSA agent was blocking Concourse C’s entrance for some reason, so I turned around to go the other way. She was not satisfied. She yelled, “Ma’am, stop walking.” I turned around to face her, suddenly noticing that everyone else in the area was standing still, as if a gigantic game of Statues was happening.
As we were all paused without explanation, a group of TSA agents rushed by, one of them telling the others, “I’ll take Concourse B and you take Concourse A.” After several minutes of standing stock still, the TSA agents returned, escorting a woman past us all. The five agents that were with her had the woman surrounded, though there were no handcuffs in sight. What was going on?
Finally, the original agent came back and told us we could be on our way. Everyone relaxed and walked away, including me. I have never experienced anything like that before, so it was worth telling you about. Lesson learned: If a TSA agent tells you not to move, don’t. Apparently, it is easier for them to find an alleged perp if no one else is moving. Oh, and the alleged prep can’t claim racial profiling, as is so popular these days, because all the TSA agents were the same race as the alleged perp. I walked past the area several times later and never saw the woman again.
Best,
Dr. Sheri