AP: Air Marshal Drops Bullets, Leaves Plane

[Eugene]

Air Marshal Drops Bullets, Leaves Plane

By Associated Press

June 1, 2006, 11:14 PM EDT

CHICAGO -- A U.S. air marshal removed himself from a Southwest Airlines flight Thursday
after dropping a clip of bullets on the floor just before the plane was to take off,
an airline spokeswoman said.

The marshal arrived at Midway International Airport on a flight from Philadelphia and
was boarding a flight to Kansas City when the clip fell to the floor, scattering bullets,
Southwest spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger told the Chicago Tribune for a story on its Web site.

"Since he was no longer traveling incognito, he decided not to continue on the flight,"
Eichinger said, adding that no extra screening of passengers was necessary because officials
determined the bullets belonged to the air marshal. "He picked the bullets up immediately."

<snip>

Full article: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-marshal-grounded,0,7794637.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[MercutioATC]

1. His mag unloaded because he dropped it????

One round, maybe. "Bullets"?? Odd.

[Kagemusha]

2. A friend told me "boxes of ammo will but not a clip". Good point.

Now, what a marshall would do with boxes of ammo on a flight, I don't know. I also don't know why he would get off the flight. Did the plane just fly without any marshall? What good is that?

[Eugene]

4. "an ammunition clip was located and turned over "

- TSA spokesman

[MercutioATC]

5. If the mag's butt plate popped off, it could happen, but that's be rare...

...and a sign of an equipment problem...

The press is notoriousy innacurate in terms of specifics. I believe there may have been a reporting error here.

[uncle ray]

7. hey, they're just stenographers, give em a break.

[MercutioATC]

10. In this case, that characterization may be right...

[sleipnir]

3. Good thing he wasn't killed on the flight by the passengers.

nt

[Jim Sagle]

6. Eats shoots and leaves

[Garbo 2004]

8. LOL! n/t

[EST]

9. Everything by AP is now suspect.

They've earned such a reputation for adding to a story, leaving part of it out, selectively quoting or misquoting, and out-and-out prevarication that they can no longer be trusted.
Is this story even true? So way to tell until backed up by another, independent account.