An Austin man detained at Austin Bergstrom International Airport for “circumvention of the screening process” last June was found guilty as charged Friday in an Austin municipal court. Michael Haendal was on his way to Washington D.C. for a job interview when he ended up in TSA custody.
"They stopped me because I had a bottle of water in my luggage."
In an effort to protect travelers, the federal agency is now enforcing a new pat-down regulation that went into effect last fall.
According to Haendal, while being wanded by a security officer, he mentioned that he didn't like the idea of being frisked.
"I was in the position, my arms were spread out, my legs were spread out, they were behind me wanding me, Haendal said. "They said, 'Ok, you're being uncooperative' because I said I didn't want to be patted down. I didn't say I refused to."
The Transportation Security Administration takes its job seriously, and according to documentation provided to YNN by Mr. Haendal, they charged him with circumvention of the screening process.
Airports officials confirmed he had been detained. Haendal said police kept him in a room for two hours, with the burden of defending himself in municipal court.
On Friday, he was found guilty as charged, and Judge Sherry Statman fined him $1 for his crime. More than the cost of the fine, missing his flight to Washington D.C. cost him a potential job.
"I was just trying to comply with what they wanted to do. I was effectively a walking zombie. I was so tired, it was five o'clock in the morning, I got two or three hours of sleep, I was just hoping I wouldn’t fall asleep in the airport and miss my plane."
Haendal told YNN he should not have been found guilty of the Class C misdemeanor, 'circumvention of the screening process'. He also said that dealing with the court system was almost as unpleasant as being detained by TSA.
The judge in this case has not returned phone calls made by YNN.