Man Jailed for saying "Bomb" on Airplane

[Aegis]

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man landed in jail for joking about shoe bombs after he boarded a plane.

Michael Shafermeyer, 30, spent more than three days behind bars after making what he says was a joke at Lambert Airport.

When a flight attendant asked him to close his laptop after boarding on Saturday, Shafermeyer told KMOV-TV in St. Louis that he jokingly asked her, "Are you the one who checks for shoe bombs?"

He was flying to Maryland to get married and had had a few drinks, the station reported.

Within minutes, federal agents removed him from the plane. He was booked at the St. Louis County jail and placed in solitary confinement, where he spent two-and-a-half days before being placed with other inmates on his final day.

The prisoners welcomed him with a standing ovation, he said.

Shafermeyer was released on Tuesday. He has been charged with making a false bomb report, he told KMOV-TV.

Shafermeyer still plans to get married in Maryland, he said — but this time, he'll take the train.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477446,00.html

Am I the only one who thinks that this is ridiculous? Especially with him being charged for making a false bomb report.

 

[holy king]

the new "fire in the theatre", i guess...

 

[holy king]

double post.

 

[warpus]

more like asking "are you on fire?" in a movie theatre

 

[Yeekim]

Train next time, yeah?
He better look up the thread we had about smoking in trains.
He'll get a week next time.

---
But seriously, this is ridiculous.

 

[Phlegmak]

Perhaps this is over the top, but he should have known better than to make any jokes. Airport security take jokes seriously and they announce that over loudspeakers. So I don't have much pity for the guy.

It's the same as the guy who was beaten to death for wearing an Osama bin Laden costume to a Halloween party in 2001. Sure, it sucks, and it's wrong, and it's sad, but he should have known better.

 

[Aegis]

more like asking "are you on fire?" in a movie theatre

Quietly asking, not even yelling.

I understand having a zero-tolerance policy for threats, but isn't this a little out of control? We can't even say words that have "bomb" in them. Bombadier. Bombastic.

"Hey Jessie, do you have anything that can help chapped lips?"

-"Sure, I think I have some lip balm in my bag"

Annoying eavesdropping passenger: ZOMG, SHE SAID SHE HAS A BOMB IN HER BAG!!!

*Federal agents escort Jessie off of the airplane*


T-T

 

[Godwynn]

Perhaps this is over the top, but he should have known better than to make any jokes. Airport security take jokes seriously and they announce that over loudspeakers. So I don't have much pity for the guy.

It's the same as the guy who was beaten to death for wearing an Osama bin Laden costume to a Halloween party in 2001. Sure, it sucks, and it's wrong, and it's sad, but he should have known better.

What he said.

 

[Yeekim]

Perhaps this is over the top, but he should have known better than to make any jokes. Airport security take jokes seriously and they announce that over loudspeakers. So I don't have much pity for the guy.

I would agree had he claimed he has an explosive device in his laptop. But he didn't - he just asked "are you the one who checks for bombs?". That doesn't quite amount to threat imho.

 

[silver 2039]

The prisoners welcomed him with a standing ovation, he said.

I guess they appreciate people on their own intellectual level.

 

[LucyDuke]

Well, a few things.

It's a stupid rule, but it's not a secret rule. You don't talk about bombs at airports or on airplanes. Period.

His crappy joke also didn't suggest that he had a bomb.

But "he has been charged with making a false bomb report"? That is the most ******ed thing I've heard all week.

Solitary confinement?

Three days in jail when he was flying to Maryland to get married?



Insanity.

 

[Masquerouge]

Air travel sucks.

I'm not saying the man was right or the flight attendant was right, I'm just saying that air travel sucks, and it's becoming worse and worse.

 

[amadeus]

Airport security is a bunch of people who've largely failed at life and had to take the lowest of the low civil service jobs.

 

[silver 2039]

Does anyone understand why he was given a standing ovation in prison? I don't.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I wonder, is the phrase "you are da bomb" forbidden?

 

[Aegis]

I wonder, is the phrase "you are da bomb" forbidden?

Apparently, any mention of the word at all, in any context, is prohibited.

 

[Zebra 9]

I think he should have been smarter then to make a remark like that, but I also think it should have been sufficient to re-put him through a security check.
I think they probably gave him the standing ovation when he told them what he was in for. He was in jail for the stupidest thing ever so he was worthy of a standing ovation.

 

[Sharwood]

I think he should have been smarter then to make a remark like that, but I also think it should have been sufficient to re-put him through a security check.
I think they probably gave him the standing ovation when he told them what he was in for. He was in jail for the stupidest thing ever so he was worthy of a standing ovation.

I agree with you, and that was also almost certainly why he got an ovation.

@Phlegmak: A guy got beaten to death for wearing a Bin Laden costume? Me-thinks it wasn't he who was stupid, but the morons doing the beating.

 

[emzie]

I guess his joke bombed?

 

[Mise]

how the hell is Obama gonna manage at airports??