TSA Agent Spills Grandpa’s Ashes on the Floor After Violating Screening Procedure
- Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:04am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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A TSA agent in Florida broke protocol in dealing with a family member’s cremated ashes, and the mistake led to the worst-case-scenario: the ashes ended up spilled on the floor at the security checkpoint.
The incident happened recently while John Gross was traveling from Orlando, Florida, to Indiana with the remains of his grandfather, Mario Mark Marcaletti. The jar, he says, was tightly sealed and marked “Human Remains.” But when he got to the screening checkpoint, a TSA agent decided that she had to open the jar and inspect the remains, a clear violation of procedure.
“They opened up my bag, and I told them, ‘Please, be careful. These are my grandpa’s ashes,’” Gross told RTV6. “She picked up the jar. She opened it up.
“She used her finger and was sifting through it,” he added. “And then she accidentally spilled it.”
“She didn’t apologize,” he explained. “She started laughing. I was on my hands and knees picking up bone fragments. I couldn’t pick up all, everything that was lost. I mean, there was a long line behind me.” He said he lost about a quarter to a third of the contents.
“I was told later on that she had no right to even open it, that they could have used other devices, like an X-ray machine,” he said.
And he’s right. According to the TSA website, agents are not allowed to open cremation containers under any circumstances:
Out of respect to the deceased and their family and friends, under no circumstances will an officer open the container even if the passenger requests this be done. Documentation from the funeral home is not sufficient to carry a crematory container through security and onto a plane without screening.
You may transport the urn as checked baggage provided that it is successfully screened. We will screen the urn for explosive materials/devices using a variety of techniques; if cleared, it will be permitted as checked baggage only.
The only time an urn is not allowed through is if it is too opaque to successfully pass through the x-ray machine. Even then, it should not be opened.
Now, Gross wants an apology, both from the TSA and especially the agent who laughed off her mistake.
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Comments (106)
LeadNotFollow
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:17pm…
Report Post »Muslims train the TSA agents.
Islam is planning to take-over and implement sharia law in the U.S.
They are testing to see how far Americans can be pushed, before we snap, and retaliate.
BurntHills
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:50pmover 2000 unvetted muslims complete in robes and burqas were hired to be TSA in Los Angeles
Report Post »Maji
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:53pmNext you’ll see “army tanks” rolling through the city streets.
Report Post »Master_and_Commander
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:23pmYou know, nobody ever listens to you morons who post crap like this. The only thing you conspiracy theory nut jobs ever accomplish every time you open your mouths is to make yourselves look bad. So please do us all a favor, either quit posting spam, or just get off the Blaze.
Flag-Man
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:54pmThey will find out
Report Post »Semper Fi
PATTY HENRY
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:55pm@ Master and Commander: YOU FIRST, dude.
The reasons they are running guns southward; the reasons they are not controlling our borders; the reasons he has bankrupted our treasury; sold assets to ruskies; given up missile shield… + 1000′s of other “security” breaches is because he’s the Muslim Manchurian Candidate with one purpose, the downfall of the USA.
Sorry, but you paid Soros goons are not going to be able to cover this up. We’ve caught on. YOU go to some other blog, or SU.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:21pmBurntHills
over 2000 unvetted muslims complete in robes and burqas were hired to be TSA in Los Angeles
___
Yeah right. I have been thru LA.
Prove it. Post a link
Report Post »Hugh Williams
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:44pmMaster And Commander
Report Post »Well said! More and more post here at The Blaze are off the deep end.
Walkabout
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:57pmHugh Williams
It would be worth noting the total number posters, & frequent posters to the number of readers. Since posters self select I don’t think they are representative of the readership. If it is like Fox News the posters make up 1% or less of the readership. I would have to check web traffic to know for sure. But I did do that for Fox News.
I do believe that Fox News no longer allows comments or you have to log in with a FOX news account. If so, trolls & people who are upset, irate or naturally pugnacious would come to another site … like this one
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 5:07pmI would have slapped the b!tch silly.
Report Post »Treaty
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 6:01pmI’m with MASTER_AND_COMMANDER…. there are no conspiracies. No one is hiding anything. The world is easily understood so we should take everything at face value.
Report Post »gobluebuckeye
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 6:42pm@ master and commander
It is obvious that the first three posters are liberal hacks thinking they are slick. I call them useful idiots (so did Lenin) , that could not think themselves out of a wet box.
Report Post »ICEDRAGON
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:11pmIf we have to put up with this crap at the air ports and train stations get the Gov. out of the business of searching people turn it over to the private sector and let them police their own air lines.
Report Post »I remarked to my wife when we visited the Ukraine and Romania in the mid ninety’s, this is going to be our future in the USA in a few years. I stated that with the police, beefing up, its just a matter of time before they want to walk around in our colons.
momrules
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:56amIf ya’ll want to spike your blood pressure go to barenakedislam.com and read their report about the Muslim TSA screeners. There is a lovely picture of an elderly nun in full habit being sexually assaulted by a female Muslim.
Did ya’ll know that the screener that *accidently* left his scanner unplugged and caused all the problems at JFK is a Muslim named Alija Abdul Majed?
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:08pmagree and yes I noted it was a muslim who had the unplugged machine. at my airport in seattle all of the drivers in the area are muslim, ethiopian muslim to be exact, they run almost every car lot to and from the airport and the screeners are predominately muslim as well. I don’t fly anymore unless its in my husbands small plane. I cannot stand the experience of it all anymore it has become unbearable.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:45pmYeah, right! MUSLIM TSA agent didn’t realize his metal detector was unplugged
http://barenakedislam.com/2012/06/25/yeah-right-muslim-tsa-agent-didnt-realize-his-metal-detector-was-unplugged/
Report Post »MRMANN
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:55amHorrific. I do not fly anymore. Sure, it’s inconvenient and time-consuming, but the alternative is something I cannot abide for ever so many reasons.
Report Post »andrewpeter05
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:51ami’d punched that bitch, after she started laughing.
Report Post »ObjectiveOpinion
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:17pmMy first thought as well. I’m not a violent person. I don’t look for trouble. In this case however, I could make an exception.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:51pmObjectiveOpinion
I don’t think so. they would charge a person punching a TSA agent as assaulting a federal officer with fines & prison time. Meanwhile the laughing agent might get a sever reprimand & sensitivity training. This agent needs to be named. Until she is, this will continue.
Without a name, the management will want to sweep this under the rug & let time cause people to
Report Post »forget. They will dodge & say let the process work. We need names.
scootervanneuter
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:47amLawyer up and kick some TSA a**
Report Post »ozchambers
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:01pmabsolutely. Get the nastiest, greediest lawyer and make them PAY!
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:54pmAll this “security” when terrorists can just walk right in across our borders without being challenged or having to show “papers.” Makes NO sense.
Report Post »MNYukon
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 4:51pmA deceased body is to be respected in whatever form it is. Cannot imagine if you just came from a funeral with ashes to be buried or taking the ashes someplace for a funeral and burial. This type of action is reprehensible by the TSA
Report Post »chips1
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:28pmOZCHAMBERS:
Report Post »It just so happens that John Edwards is available. He fits your description.
momrules
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:45amAmericans are under a lot of stress right now and many are reaching some kind of boiling point.
I often wonder when the first traveler is going to just lose it and beat the living scat out of one of these TSA thugs. A lot a things have already happened that might have pushed me right over the edge of the cliff had they happened to me or one of mine.
Good thing I no longer fly.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:52amMorning, MOM!
I ditto your comments down to the not flying part, too. Had that been me, the tsa “agent” would have been picking up her teeth from across the room. Be good to earn my phd in prison, I guess, for standing up against these soulless folk.
GOD BLESS AND PROTECT.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 4:11pmI cannot even find the right words for how disrespectfull this was. I do not know if I would have come unglued or not. It takes a bus to run over me to become angry according to my family, but this could well have been the bus. This was so dishonorable it sickens me. Yes, I know the spirit is no longer there, but disrespect for remains is wrong, period.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:38amTime to fire a TSA agent. They have this mindset they are untouchable because they are Federal workers. Time to dispel that myth. Also, very disrespectful of her. Shameful. What is happening to Americans?
Report Post »danielabernath
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:38amI was a TSA officer for about two years. Human ashes and bones shows up the same as explosives on the CTX machine. If she had a cell phone or some other wire next to it then the TSA officer is tasked with assuming it could be an explosive devise. Of course if a ******* wanted to put real explosives on your airplane they would put it in a can marked “My dear departed Mom” so that out of respect you wouldn’t open it.
Report Post »The TSA is there to protect your life and has done so many many times without you even knowing it.
blanco5
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:49amOh, barf! The tsa is just another useless federal agency and we all know it!
Report Post »Magyar
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:52amSTOP the nonsense. This was a violation of their own procedure and the ultimate in disrespect. NO EXCUSES!
FIRE THE BIT%!
Report Post »Keep Your Skepticals On
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:22pmIf the TSA has protected or even saved someone it does not discount the cost incurred by treating every passenger as guilty until proven innocent.
Requiring a mandatory colonoscopy during screening would also save many lives – many, many lives – but if basic human dignity is disregarded it greatly trivializes the very thing these policies are meant to protect.
With all of these stories, I do not think I could look anyone in the face and convince them the TSA is doing them a favor. That tells me something is wrong with the system.
Report Post »lefty5005
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:26pmThe guy is not a muslim therefore not going to blow up the plane. When has a non-muslim wanted to blow up a plane. It’s time to start stereotyping bigtime. The problem is/are islam.
Report Post »SuperX1
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:39pmI call BS on that. TSA has done nothing except hinder travel & molest passengers. I doubt for all the money they have spent, they have thwarted anything. Homeland security is headed by an idiot, and members working for the idiot are no better.
Report Post »Henchman21
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 2:20pmAshes DO NOT look just like explosives on a CTX display. If you truly were an operator you’d know just how they work and any wire or other component could easily be identified. I was a CTX9000 operator for 5 years and was one of the first 9 in the country to test and implement the new (post 9/11) protocols. I was also the first to pass the IG’s dummy bag test in the country.
Report Post »We were trained by a former Israeli EOD Commander who had gone on to develop and set up the new CTX9000 machines from Invision Technologies at SFO. This guy knew his stuff and we were all highly trained and could not be tricked by any live tests they ran. Naturally the TSA had to screw everything up by changing the protocols. Days before I left SFO, for ethical reasons, a newly placed “commissar” ordered an operator to let a stereo speaker through that obviously had a large amount of foreign material inside. It could have easily been drugs or explosives but, he didn’t care.
The people who started calling the shots had no training and no business anywhere near security operations. It was so ridiculous that the operators were training the new trainers and teaching the shot callers how things were supposed to work. I had become one of the first whistle blowers, to no avail, as the beaurocrats had already taken hold. I’ve seen things that would give everyone cause to never fly again.
I’m not terribly confident that things will change anytime soon…
marcus_arealius
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 2:31pmBlow me you turd.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:38pm“Cremated remains are mostly dry calcium phosphates with some minor minerals, such as salts of sodium and potassium. Sulfur and most carbon are driven off as oxidized gases during the process, although a relatively small amount of carbon may remain as carbonate.” -wiki
This really looks like explosives when viewed by a Computer Tomography X-ray?
On a side note, I would suggest that people keep the cremated remains in a see thru glass urn if they are traveling with them.
Report Post »normalmom
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 7:09pmNO, what she did was rude and very disrespectful. The fact that she just laughed is the worst part of it. No apology she should be canned.
Report Post »Scaz
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:34amThe TSA isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s here to stay. This is the new normal in the land of the free. If you think Mitt Romney or even Ron Paul would abolish the TSA, you’re very niave. It’s part of the machine now, so either get use to it or do something about it.
Report Post »blanco5
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:50amI believe the part of obamney not doing anything about it!
Report Post »Niner
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:32amWould you please fix the headline? It’s wrong in both places.
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:29amThe TSA agent should have known the rules and should be fired for this violation. I think the agent should be sued for fondling grandpa too. If this had been a toxic chemical like anthrax, the moron would have infected the entire area as well as herself. I also think the TSA should be dis-banded.
Report Post »tckid17
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:24amAnother “touching” moment by the T and A administration.
Report Post »Banter
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:23amThe TSA was created to normalize freedom-stripping, un-Constitutional, police-state style checkpoints as a part of daily life.
Report Post »az11697
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:23amAll y’all need to cut these hard workers a lil slack. Keep in mind that it is only a percentage of TSA workers making these kinds of errors, I mean there has to be 1 or 2 of them who are not complete idiots. I have no proof of this I am just being optimistically minded here. I really, really want to believe that an entire government agency cannot be staffed 100% by idiots, right, right?
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:29amAren’t the staff of ALL government agencies idiots -errr i mean union mentality persons?
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:43amDevil’s advocate, I have actually had nothing but good experiences with TSA agents so far and I travel frequently. I also usually have good experiences with other government workers such as mail carriers, DMV employees, etc…Usually you are treated in accordance with how you treat others and I try and recognize that these folks are just doing their jobs…
That said…The TSA is worthless and stupid. It is sad that we, as free Americans, have allowed this to happen. I remember flying in the sixties and seventies when flying was still special, people dressed up for it, and the airlines treated you like royalty. Flying today is bad enough, almost as bad as Greyhound, and the TSA crap just adds insult to injury.
But…What can you do…Either fight it and just make yourself and everyone around you miserable or suck it up and make the best of things.
Report Post »howboutthemapples
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:01pmI had a talk with my postman yday after getting back from vacation. He says he is doing 40% of the work he used to do and it takes him 1.5hrs longer to get it done. This gov agency wont let him be productive and save $…… idiots
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 4:02pmYeah, right! MUSLIM TSA agent didn’t realize his metal detector was unplugged
http://barenakedislam.com/2012/06/25/yeah-right-muslim-tsa-agent-didnt-realize-his-metal-detector-was-unplugged/
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:22amobama’s little brown shirts.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:30amClearly you have to have a low I.Q. to join …
Report Post »NancyBee
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:40amWhat kind of person acts like this?? a person with no soul
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:42amIf these are guys I need to be afraid of, I can now sleep well at night.
Report Post »TwoLazy
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:51amActually I believe they were Bush’s little brown shirts, well, maybe Tom Daschle’s brown shirts, you can’t professionalize until you federalize … say, how’d that work out?
But look we got 200,000 or so more union members… wow what a deal.
Report Post »Tom K
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:20amThis screener MUST be fired. If this happened to me, the moment the idiot / undertrained screener spilled my loved one’s ashes and laughed, I would have totally lost control and beat the dog snot out of that screener. She could catch up on reading the T.S.A. Training Manuels in the Hospital, if she lived. Of course, if you check your luggage and your grandpa’s ashes are in the checked bag, the airlines might lose your bag AND grandpa, too. Just a few more reasons NOT TO FLY ! Abolish the T.S.A. and adopt the El Al – Israel screening techniques, NOW !
Report Post »bdandsl
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:19amHearing all thes horror stories about the TSA, I‘m glad I don’t fly! That said, the TSA needs to be defunded. Those people are morons! They have absolutly no common sense, just want to be good kool-aid drinking soldiers!
Report Post »Scaz
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:29amWell, I hope you don’t drive either, at least in Tennesse, because they have check points on federal highways there. I‘m sure it’s coming to a state near you soon.
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:17amAn apology, clearly this woman needs a new job! You people keep letting your body be groped, or xrayed.. stop flying for a week or two, they will change their tune, when the darn airlines begins going bankrupt!
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:43amSo in your logic, you are going to blame the airlines for the TSA infractions. So when you punish your children, do you hit your husband too?
Report Post »Blazebanned
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:15amDont ask for an apology, demand a public hanging.Its past time to put a beatdown on these slime bags……
Report Post »Ballot_Box_Revolution
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:13am/Draws a new line in the sand/
Okay…….well don’t cross that one.
/End sarcasm/
Report Post »Popp40
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:20amReminds me of the Bugs Bunny and Yosimitee Sam where Bugs kept having Sam cross the line until he fell off the cliff. Problem is: we are Yosimitee Sam!
Report Post »AmeriWoman
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:12amThat was just horrible and sick. How sad!
AW
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:12amDisband the TSA, this is one more cause of harassment and hatered being engineered by the govermnet for the intimidation of the nations people.
Report Post »Steelheadisadouche
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:26amBut they just clarified that TSA has authority over all mass transit…All forms of public transportation when they have stopped exactly 0% of attempts and just harrass and fondle average Americans only. We have training manuals from the Israeli’s on how to actually do the job, but are not allowed that level of success, only feel good liberal crap that couldn’t stop a child from blowing up a plane.
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:05pmSTEELHEADISADOUCHE, I love your name!!! I wonder if Steelhead has seen it yet.
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:10amApology? I would want her ass!
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:07amAbolish the TSA. Period. They’re useless, incompetent, and a complete joke.
Report Post »drbage
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:14amTotally Stupid Arrogance.
Report Post »Popp40
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:22amThis is going to sound bad but the TSA is the new plantation job, plain and simple.
Report Post »@leftfighter
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:23amFor that matter, don’t stop there. I can think of several useless, incompetent, complete jokes of Federal agencies.
Just sayin’.
Report Post »