Airport Joke Sends Grandma To The Slammer!
Does an inappropriate joke warrant a night in jail?
On June 4th of this year, the Friedlander family was at JFK Airport seeing off their family. Zlata and Solomon Friedlander were helping both their children and grand-children board British Airways Flight 182, which was bound for London.
That's when a problem popped up with the tickets, when airline workers noticed that two tickets had been purchased with one credit card and four tickets had been bought with another card. That type of transaction raised a red flag with the ticket agent.
When Solomon and their son went to sort out the ticket problem, the other children began acting up. In exasperation, Zlata made a comment about her husband's temper that she would soon regret.
"I think I said something like ..."when he starts, when he really finishes up over here, this place is really gonna rock, like a bomb or something."
At that point, Zlata says she was surrounded by TSA and Port Authority police. A British Airways representative was also on the scene.
The British Airways rep extended his hand to her, but because of her religious beliefs, Zlata refused to take his hand. She believes that this response annoyed the rep and he began to yell at airport employees, saying that the Friedlanders were not to board the plane and that they now had to go thru a special screening process. This soon turned into orders to stop the family from boarding altogether and then Zlata found herself being arrested.
She was charged with three counts for falsely reporting an incident and one count disorderly conduct. She was taken away and had to spend one night in Queens County Jail.
Solomon Friedlander says "until 1:30 in the morning I didn't know what was going to happen to my wife".
Court papers had a slightly different version of Zlata's statement; ...the defendant Zlata Friedlander stated "they don't know my husband, before you know it there will be a bomb in here."
Zlata insists she did not say it that way, but realizes it's her word against theirs.
Frustrated with the way they were treated, the Friedlanders called Help Me Howard to tell their side of the story.
Howard called both British Airways and the TSA to get their side of the story, this is what they had to say about the incident:
British Airways said:
"We just will not tolerate any threat to the safety of our passengers or the airline. The safety of our passengers is paramount and it will never be compromised."
The TSA said this:
"Think when you are traveling. Belligerant behavior, inappropriate jokes and threats are taken very seriously and will not be tolerated."Zlata says she has learned a big lesson about watching what you say in public. She quoted a Jewish saying, "The less you talk, the smarter you are".
Zlata eventually pled guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a $ 350.00 fine.
It's always a good idea to watch what you say while in security lines at the airport. Airport employees are trained to listen and watch for unusual and inappropriate activity. Better to just not give them anything to wonder about.
Comments: 3
I mentioned on Kaity's blog that my mother got detained at an airport in Europe, because she tried to bring a toy gun home for her grandson. I guess you just can't be too careful these days, and this was before 911. My mom was unusual, but quite interesting, and would definitely voice her opinion. I'm surprised they let her on the plane to come home.
IF WHAT THE GRANMA SAID WAS A THREAT TO THE AIRPORT WHY WASN'T THE AIRPORT SHUT DOWN?
I ACTUALLY WAS THERE AND WHAT SHE SAID WAS WRONG, BUT THEY DETAINED HER AND THE FAMILY FOR ABOUT 1 1/2 HOURS IN THE AIRPORT BEFORE TAKING HER INTO CUSTODY, UNTIL THEY MADE ALL THERE PHONE CALLS TO ALL THE HEADS OF SECURITY TO SEE WHAT TO DO, BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT IT WAS NOT A THREAT,IF THIS WAS A THREAT THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE REMOVED HER IMMEDIATELY FROM THE AIRPORT AND DETAINED THE HUSBAND, THE ONE THAT SUPPOSEDLY HAD A BOMB AND THEN CLOSE THE AIRPORT. OBVIOUSLY THEY REALIZED THAT IT WASN'T A THREAT AND THEY SHOULD HAVE ISSUED A FINE/WARNING AS THEY DID AFTER PUTTING HER IN JAIL, THERE WAS NO REASON FOR HER TO SIT IN JAIL OVERNIGHT.