Via Turley, Elena Reichman may be more sensitive than most to the demands of the minimum wage TSA officials at Palm Beach International Airport. The path of least resistance would have been to comply, not only because it would have gotten her through the line more quickly but because it was a no-win situation for her. But the 74 year old grandmother and Holocaust survivor decided not to passively comply, and will now pay the price of freedom in America. My new favorite phrase, “freedom is not free.”
While this is not the face of terrorism, it is the face of civil disobedience. And perhaps the face of America’s newest felon, if the TSA has its way. Note the downturned lips, the beady eyes, the hair strategically askew. She’s a bad one, no doubt.
From the Sun-Sentinel story,
Elena Reichman, a Holocaust survivor who lives west of Boca Raton, is charged with felony battery on a law enforcement officer. She was released from jail after posting a $3,000 bond at 5 a.m. Thursday. It was her first arrest, state records show.
Reichman’s daughter, Davira Bareli, said her mother is diabetic and accused security officers and the deputy of acting irrationally with her mother.
Reichman was in the airport to catch a flight to New York for Passover when she set off the metal detector at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Paul Miller said.
That’s how it starts. First, they expect rationality. Then, they turn violent.
Transportation Security Administration workers told her they would have to do a secondary screening, which includes using a metal detector wand, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said.
“She didn’t want to take anything out of her pockets,” Koshetz said. “When we asked her again to remove anything she became belligerent.”
When Picerno, a 17-year veteran with the Sheriff’s Office, tried to calm Reichman down, it got worse, Miller said: “She started screaming and grabbed the arms of the deputy and shoved her.”
Reichman was arrested.
No one, not even Turley, will argue that touching, no less shoving, a deputy is appropriate conduct. But is this arrest-worthy conduct when done by a 74 year old woman? Is it felonious? Some of the overly-sensitive folks who truly believe that we are mere supplicants to officialdom will argue that there is right and wrong, and their zero-tolerance mentality will compel them to conclude that she crossed the line and therefore should be executed (metaphorically). Ah, freedom is not free. It’s so Orwellian.
There are two comments to Turley’s post that are exceptionally astute. The first suggests that a person who survived a forced labor camp under the Nazi’s may be somewhat less inclined that our official-lovers to comply with the commands of every uniformed individual who “serves and protects.” Perhaps this just wasn’t what Elena Reichman thought she would confront more than 60 years after the Nazis’ demise.
The second point, well-made, is about our government’s message to all the fine blue-haired geriatrics that pass through Palm Beach Airport, not to mention the rest of us, that they will tolerate nothing short of total compliance. While the sheriff’s spokesperson said, “The public needs to realize that anyone can pose a threat,” the only threat Elena Reichman presented was a threat to their authority. We can’t have people thinking that they can sass the government, no matter how old they are. We either shut down these malcontents with an iron fist, or there will be anarchy in the streets.
The second commenter includes a brief tale worth reading as well:
There are muslims in my area who no longer even try to visit Canada. Border officials separate the family and hold the adults for 2-4 hours of questioning every time they go through. That sends quite a message also-one heard loud and clear.
Anyone can be a threat. Especially people in uniform with the power to turn an old woman’s ill-conceived shove into a night in jail and a felony charge. Or a Muslim trying to cross a border.
Freedom isn’t free. And anyone who wants to champion the view that we, the citizens of the United States of America, would be wise to just start doing whatever we’re told, that our failure to comply rightfully brings the wrath of officialdom down on our heads, should not expect a warm welcome here.
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Great post, Scott. I started to leave a comment, but the extra strong coffee kicked in, turning it into a rant that I eventually turned into its own post.
The picture is worth a thousand words too. Reminds me of my favorite JFK quote: “those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.”
….I remember the days before metal detectors when you just got on the damn plane. Ah, what I’d give to return to yesteryear when I could carry anything I liked on any plane I cared to. I’m not a holocaust survivor, nor am I 70. I’m 59, is that old enough for an exemption ? I’m standing behind this lady when you waive her through after she shoves the cop and refuses the search for the metal that set off the detector. Can I do the same? I can probably shove harder, Do I get to play shove a cop and walk too ? What if I tell ’em my mom was a holocaust victim ? Don’t they need to know that ?
…Since this is the Goobermint, doesn’t the equal protection clause have claws here. If you’re going to treat me different, Why ? My granddaughter may be in the next holocaust, doesn’t that mean anything. It ought to. I want to see the list of folks who you think should get special treatment, Scott.
and you gave every person you ever stopped for speeding a ticket?
…NO. I did book every person who hit or pushed me, and I NEVER hit or pushed anybody without legal and practical justification. You and I both know cops are baited and harassed, especially by frustrated and angry people. I got my share. It was much more than I expected going in, but I needed the job and learned forbearance. I don’t know this lady and can’t speak to her acts or motivation. Yet…I have dealt with frustrated and angry people a lot. I know that the very young, and the elderly, and drunks and loons are irrational more often than others. Because of that, things often don’t go well for them. There is a slim chance that the U.S. Atty will insist on a felony prosecution. It could happen, but unlikely. And I don’t understand Davids referrence to revolution. I’d bet money that David’s the only one who see’s a revolutionary here. I see a crotchety old lady who was mad as hell and wasn’t gonna take it any more.
…If you and she were striking a blow agains’t petty B.S., well, I want to get on the list of excused too. I hate B.S., pettit or grand. Once again I ask, why does she get a pass and me, not so much ? If you can make a legal cade for that, do it. If you just feel sorry for her because her bad behaviour got her a room without a view, then I gotta demur.And I don’t want folks who light up the metal detectors to avoid being searched. I might be on that plane too.
So when you were a cop, you got to decide that crimes you felt were worthy of arrest and which you chose to ignore? I want to get on that list where I decide what crimes get to be ignored.
A push by a 74 year old woman doesn’t carry any potential threat. One by a 59 year old man may or may not, according to how much of a push it may be. If she had pushed someone who was not a cop, and that person asked you to arrest her, you would laugh out loud. I want to be on the list of people who are more important than anyone else, so that if someone touched me, it was arrest-worthy even though it would be a joke if it happened to someone else.
Old people, in particular, cause trouble in this regard, whether because they remember the day when we didn’t have to obey the orders of every minimum wage jerk in uniform, or because they expect to be treated with some degree of dignity, or they just have a touch of senile dementia. Whatever it is, this case reduces the respect for cops because of its universal absurdity. Do you think the cop union will mention this bust when it comes time to seek public support for its next contract negotiations. “We kept you safe from Elena Reichman, so pay us more!”
…I glad you asked. The simple answer is yes. I did get to decide. Just as you get to decide which cases you take. If you want to be a decider of who gets prosecuted, be a prosecutor or a judge.
…But nothing is as simple as that. The law out here makes most crimes citeable and prohibits a physical arrest. Cite or warn, that’s the choice. Some crimes are called ” may takes ” and require the officer to meet certain burdens, sign and attest to having met these requirements, before booking the suspect. Then there are a few ” must takes “. No choice, you get the ride. Drunk driving is one of these.
..If she did push someone who was not a cop and that person arrested her and turned her over to a cop ( me ) as req’d, I’d book her, as required. She sure as hell wouldn’t get on that plane or even in the terminal until she submitted to a search. That’s just the cost of a ticket to ride.
..You claim this lady was not a threat, but you can’t say that until she produces the item (s) that set off the alarm. You make such an issue about her holocaust victim status that I think you are letting you personal bias cloud your judgement. I don’t and wouldn’t care who or what she is or was. I just want a safe trip to N.Y. I think she did too, and that she and I would be justly upset if the Deputy let an elderly Nazi on the plane unsearched because of the officers bias or predjudice. It’s extraneous to the incident. So is the future pay issue. Is that what you want cops to consider when making arrests ? I don’t.
Odd, some cops I know don’t feel compelled to follow the rules quite as well as you. Of course, some people are just rule followers and others aren’t.
As for the Holocaust survivor, it’s relevant for her state of mind, but not for the police reaction. On the other hand, neither is the fact that someone has a prior felony, yet the police spokespeople always seem to manage to find a way to work that into every press release.
But you hit on the solution. Tell her that she can’t board until checked, even though we all know what a stupid waste of time and money all this nonsense is. Wait, we don’t all know that. Some still buy into the belief that it’s the magnatometers that have saved this country from another terrorist attack. But rules are rules, Dave. And the foot soldiers must follow the rules. Except when they don’t want to (and the Capt. or the media aren’t there to see).
… All changed, changed utterly. And a terrible beauty is born. Somebody is always around to see and record. Not even a single sparrow falls but that God see’s it and some sonofabitch puts it on YouTube.
…The prior felony/poison the jury pool problem is stoppable, but we really don’t want to stop it because we want to know all the dirt. Right now, upfront, shortcut to decision time. Now that information storage is free, nothing goes away. It never will. Nude pictures of my
granddaughter are being sent by her ( at 14 ) right now, to her best friend who’s icky brother will take it off her phone and put it on the net while she’s showering before school tomorrow. She’ll get to see them at school on Monday.
..Her granddaughter will get to see them. Privacy is gone. THe Embarassment to Mrs. Reichman and her family is probably going to be worse than the final disposition of this. Just leaving a copy of her booking photo on her doorstep a year from now will be devastating. Even when it’s over, it will not be over. All changed and I’ll bet she didn’t have an inkling of that when she let her temper take over. She probably doesn’t yet know how bad it could get.
Oddly enough, I was speaking with my Palm Beach correspondent this morning, who told me that Reichman has overwhelming support down there from the blue-hairs, who think this was ridiculous and outrageous. It’s not that they think Reichman’s conduct was smart or intelligent, but that the reaction was disproportionate and that it diminished respect for the officials.
Also, another thought occurred to me (which should have occurred earlier, but it didn’t).
So we’re clear, this isn’t what the laws say, but police department policy. I’m not aware of any law that says, “it’s unlawful to do ___, unless a police officer thinks otherwise.” So while the beat cop doesn’t get to make the calls, someone higher up in the department decides that laws, duly enacted by duly elected legislators, are enforced, whether by citation or arrest, if, when and how they decide? There you go.
We’re in a sad state of affairs when your grandma starts getting arrested at the airport. Yes, she touched an officer, a severe no-no. You just have to wonder how much irrationality as noted by the daughter occurred prior to that point.
Nothing happens in a vacuum.
…No, these were statutes that allowed, or required, certain actions. Departmental policy further restricted it. Most police dept’s had the requirement that the beat cop get supervisory approval to book, but my department doesn’t. Some offices require a Sgt be notified of felony bookings, some don’t. The legislature further required all bookings for misdemeanors to complete a misdemeanor booking checklist which further limits bookings and expands the use of cite and release. And here is the kicker, if you arrest someone in the city and book them in the county jail ( as required ), the city has to pay the county $100 for that privelege. Even if the arrest was made by a State officer outside the cities knowledge or control. When the Highway Patrol arrested 426 demonstrators on the Bay Bridge in Oakland, Oakland city payed Alemeda Co. 42 thousand bucks for the privelege. And the demonstrators were from Berkeley !
Scott, Dave and other bloggers the context of the illegal arrest is being covered over. These searches at airports, court houses, public buildings etc. are scandalous at best. A complete violation of the 4th. and 14th.Amendments. The Sheriffs and others involved with Mrs Reichman, violated their Oath Of Office and her rights. Remember putting your hand on a bible (or other sacrament or supreme being)to uphold the State and U.S.Constitutions. A violation of such, is disrespect for both documents. Give this old lady (not derogatory) credit for having the guts not to roll over like you and I. Where I grew up the police would beat the daylights out you, than charge you with assault on a police officer, the judge would throw out the charge due to mandatory sentence, 6 months, he knew the charge to be frivolous. Were these same tactics used against this old lady to a lesser extent? Was she physically intimidated and reacted? Since when do we believe everything in the newspapers? We know this little old lady didn’t put out the news release. Explain to me the PROBABLE CAUSE for this search within the confines of the 4th. Amendment and not case law. I really don’t give dam how security is met, providing the Constitution isn’t violated. The police are to Serve and Protect not to enforce unconstitutional law.