Say What: Condom joke backfires

[question everything]

Say What: Condom joke backfires

Press-Telegram wire reports
Long Beach Press Telegram

PHILADELPHIA — When college freshman Janet Lee packed her bags for a Christmas trip home two years ago, her luggage contained three condoms filled with flour devices that she and some friends made as a joke.

Philadelphia International Airport screeners found the condoms, and their initial tests showed they contained drugs. The Bryn Mawr College student was arrested for alleged drug trafficking and jailed. Three weeks later, she was released after a lab test backed her story, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.

Lee filed a federal lawsuit last week against city police, seeking damages for pain and suffering, financial loss, and emotional distress. She was arrested on Dec. 21, 2003, and was held on $500,000 bail and faced up to 20 years in prison had she been convicted of the drug charges.

(snip)

Lee's lawyers, former prosecutors David Oh and Jeremy Ibrahim, say that either the field test was faulty or someone fixed the results.

(snip)

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_3354935

[Erika]

1. W's new America. Osama is smiling

all because of W

[DS1]

98. Oh bull fucking shit

Anyone would get jailed until the details were worked out. It's a stupid thing to do under any Presidency.

[Solomon]

116. Oh bull fucking shit yourself. The field test should have been

positive for drugs. Flour wouldn't have done that. The police did that on purpose.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Uh...

I'm not the most tolerant of folks when it comes to authority figures, but I think it was reasonable to assume she was carrying drugs. Now, if they can provide evidence that the police "spiked" the condoms, she has a case. Otherwise, sorry kid, you should have thought this one through.

[jobycom]

36. Three weeks in jail?

You can tolerate them not discovering that flour was flour for three weeks? I'd understand if she had a history of drug arrests, but otherwise, she should own that town when her lawyers are done.

[Kelvin Mace]

90. Sorry, given how backed up most

state crime labs are, three weeks was pretty good. If you do not want to run into these problems, you shouldn't board airliners with condoms full of white powder. You also shouldn't try to get aboard with alarm clocks stuffed with Play-Doh. Some people may jump to conclusions.

[jobycom]

111. I'm still clinging to the "innocent until proven guilty" mentality

Cops should have had to prove it was an illegal substance before locking someone up. Sue the cops, make the city file for bankruptcy, maybe they'll respect the citizens next time.

[Kelvin Mace]

112. Ah, she wasn't found guilty

She was charged with a crime, arraigned and failed to post bail. That is the way the systems works, whether you are charged with murder or serial double-parking.

She was from out of state and did something incredibly, mind-bogglingly stupid. She got caught. The initial field test was positive and she was booked. Bail was set high because she was from out of state.

As a person who has sued a police department for criminal acts (and won), I am not the most sympathetic ear for them. But try as I might, I cannot see error in this situation (unless they spiked the test).

She had white powder in several condoms, which is the way drugs are sometimes smuggled. The drug field test was positive. Were they just supposed to wave here through?

If you walk into a bank with a replica shotgun and a ski mask, people will jump to conclusions.

If you want have a discussion about the idiocy of drug laws, we'll have much to agree on, but I can't find fault in this situation. Sometimes, just sometimes, life makes you pay dearly for being stupid. It doesn't happen often enough for my tastes.

[northzax]

3. what sort of test shows flour and latex as a drug?

that's my question. if this was an accepted test, carried out within normal procedures, then I'm with KM here, stupid decision, kiddo, and the wheels of justice spat you back out.

[SillyGoose]

4. Have you seen 'Maria Full of Grace'?

I think they thought these were tubes of heroin and bullshitted her in the hopes she would confess while they waited for the test results.

[northzax]

14. probably coke, not heroin

and you can field test for cocaine very easily, and very cheaply. and no judge would arraign someone for drug trafficking without a positive field test, I wouldn't think. She says 'it is flour' and unless the DA has something to show it isn't flour, 500 grand of bail seems unlikely.

The initial arrest without a field test, fine, but a three week hold? which, since bail was mentioned, included at the very least an arraignment? something's fishy.

[SillyGoose]

37. My mistake on the heroin.

I know nothing about the drug trade and am not an attorney so forgive my ignorance here. Perhaps they thought they had her on drug charges and held her until they eliminated all possibilities? After watching 'Maria Full of Grace' my impression is that drug trafficking is a huge problem that we are woefully ill-equipped to handle. Maybe she got caught in a bureaucracy that is poorly designed to catch bad guys. I don't know....just asking.

[northzax]

44. fair enough

worth noting that these were not swallowed pellets, but in her bag.

and you are right, we have no handle on drug trafficking, and we never will. as long as there is money at stake, and we're talking billions of dollars, smugglers always do just a little bit better than the guards. So has it always been.

MFoG was a fine film, shows a lot of a damage that the US appetite for cocaine is doing to our neighbors.

[SillyGoose]

57. I think those pellets got them interested in her to begin with

and those pellets had to have looked very suspicious to people who were looking for drugs.

MFoG opened my eyes to the real problems in the drug trade and our inability and to handle them.

[DRoseDARs]

5. Everyone involved with those "initial tests" should be fired...

If they screw up that badly over fucking flour-filled condoms... :eyes:

[Erika]

7. Agreed, flower in condoms don't equate to drugs

America has turned crazy under W.

[northzax]

15. this has nothing to do with W

the asinine war on drugs predates him by decades.

[Erika]

63. The whole paranioa thing is a W result. n/t

[Hobarticus]

6. For argument's sake...why would you do this?

Unless you knew the screener personally, what's the point of this "Jackass"-type stunt?

[Erika]

9. Do you choose to dictate a PC humor

that outlines what is funny with kids? W's affects are everywhere.

[Hobarticus]

10. Huh? Please rephrase...n/t

[Erika]

12. rephrase what? n/t

[Hobarticus]

18. Do I choose to dictate humor? Is that what you're asking?

No, I just want to know why anybody would do this, whether it was intended to be funny or not. Not dictating anything to anyone. At least, that's what I think you're getting at. I don't think too many people would find pretending to transport narcotics lotsa laffs, especially to the authorities. That's just stupid.

[Erika]

20. Who said they were pretending to do that?

Did I miss something?

[Hobarticus]

22. LOL! Yeah, I really think you did miss something! n/t

[Erika]

64. I don't. Paranoia running rampant. n/t

[Hobarticus]

67. Don't forget hyperbole, too n/t

[HeeBGBz]

118. Pretty stupid idea

To get on a plane with condoms full of flour.

Seems like they could have figured out sooner than three weeks that it was flour, however.

[bluestateguy]

8. TSA agents should not waste time with drugs

I was afraid this would happen, TSA agents, who should be looking for bombs, weapons and terrorists, waste time going after somebody who allegedly has a few vials of white powder. Nobody's security in that airport is jeopardized by that, even if it was cocaine.

The girl and her friends used bad judgement, but this should have been a moot point. Drug inderdiction just isn't on my A list of priorities.

[Erika]

11. But the powder could have been anthrax

when paranoia is released, it is released. Osama is happy in W's America.

[Warren DeMontague]

29. I guess you didn't get the memo

it's way more fun to use all these great patriot act powers and this jacked up terra hysteria to go after non-violent drug offenders than it is to use 'em on actual terrorists.

[Erika]

39. You're right. Was the sin having condoms or flour?

The Patriot Act is very vague on which crime could harm us the most. You know, even the Pope is calling the condom "dangerous and UnGodly".

[MazeRat7]

13. She and her friends are idiots... don't joke with these people...

They are on a mission from God, have a power complex, and such things will get your ass thrown in the pokey (unless of course you are not very informed about the current state of our nation). As for "suing for damages, pain and suffering, blah blah blah"... what a joke. She and her friends brought this on herself and the suit should be thrown out. If anything she should have to pay for wasting everyones time, energy, etc.

Damn... people are stupid.

MZr7

[Erika]

16. Packing condoms with flour has something to do

with a power complex? Maybe you should hear what a lot of people put in their suitcases. So now, you are saying that condoms with flour packed in them in your personal suitcases should cause you to pay and list you as irresponsible . OK. What happened to America?

Please print the PC materials here on what is correct or incorrect to pack in your personal luggage. No wonder so many of my friends are absolutely refusing to fly. W and Osama has overtaken the airports with a heck of a lot of enablers.

[MazeRat7]

17. No....

The state of things is that those doing the screening, law-enforcement, et al have a collective "power complex". You know.. an all driving urge to keep us safe from the "terrar-ist". But that is beside the point, what they did was stupid. And then to sue because they were mistreated by a bunch of high-school grads for their stupidity....well that is just silly. *grin.

MZr7

on edit: I won't fly either if I can avoid it... for this and many other reasons.

[Erika]

19. They have the right to be stupid, don't they?

I think they were being silly. Would you rather they be controlled by fascist rules? Please issue what you feel is PC for them to carry.

[MazeRat7]

26. You teasing right ?

She made bad choices. She got busted for those choices. Now she wants to sue because her "choices" didn't go over well? Hey, she is a grown-up (over 18 I suppose) let her figure out what she can/can not carry on a plane. Today the reality is if you carry something like that on a plane you will get busted. Thats Fine if you want to make a political statement about "fascist suppression". But don't turn around and try to sue for damages (eg $$$) because you were stupid and wanted to make a statement.

And no I hate rules.. but I know how to play the game until they get changed or I find a work-around.

MZr7

[1932]

35. Intent is an essential part of every crime. She did not have the criminal

intent required for any crime for which she was charged.

it's absurd to think that she should be punished criminally for any of this.

Also, it's ridiculous that our criminal justice system doesn't have mechanisms that prevent the victims of practical jokes from being punished as criminals...like, say, accurate drug tests.

[Erika]

43. You're living in Osama and W times

There is no such thing as humor. Every condom and pinch of flour could be deadly weapons. (Their backpack may carry the drone to deliver it to NYC or LA)
We can never be too careful in these dangerous times.

[1932]

92. What's the name of the crime she committed?

And what level of intent does it require?

[northzax]

46. she wasn't punished criminally

she was never indicted or tried, when the follow up tests cleared her, she was released from jail and the charges dropped.

[Erika]

47. How nice. Just told to be more PC the next time

so she could pass the Osama and W test.

People, we're looking like fools to the rest of the world.

[1932]

94. I'm criticizing the argument that she committed a crime.

However, I will add to my argument above that 21 days in jail is a long time to be detained when the police had in their possession the evidence that should have proven that no crime was committed. There are probably a lot of crimes that wouldn't result in that much jail time.

I do think she has an argument that police negligence resulted in substantial damages.

[MercutioATC]

87. So if I bring a fake bomb into an airport, it's OK if it's just a "joke"?

She made the incredibly stupid choice to put a white powder into condoms and take them through airport security. She deserves to enjoy the consequences of that decision.

[1932]

96. If YOU intended to bring a fake bomb to the airport, I bet there's a

criminal statute that you would have broken, and you would have satisfied the required level of intent for a conviction.

When someone puts a fake bomb in your bag as a joke, you have not committed a crime.

Every criminal statute identifies the level of intent that is required for a conviction. RECKLESS homicide is a crime in many states. Most statutes require that you INTENDED to commit the act. When you had no intention to commit an act (or you acted in self defense, or if you believed there was some reasonable justification for your action) you're not going to be convicted.

When you didn't even know the shit was in your bag, you can't be convicted.

Some people who have shit placed in their bags are convicted, but it's not because they got set up. It's because juries don't believe that you were set up. In this case, I suspect the woman's friends admitted they put the condoms in her bag, so there's no question that she didn't commit a crime.

[baby_mouse]

101. Your positions favours the authority. okay.

I can understand that. Everyone wants to be looked after.

It seems a little strange to *me*, however, that from your tone you seem to think that the consequences are somehow concrete and immutable rather than the result of policy or a series of decisions. Do you feel that figures in authority have any responsibility for their power over the ordinary citizen, or are we responsible for our own actions and also the actions of figures in authority? If so, whose actions are the figures in authority responsible for? If not their own, this perhaps sets a dangerous precedent.

[High Plains]

49. Having flour in a condom is not a crime...

She didn't get busted because of her "bad choices." She was falsely arrested because of a)incompetence or b) fraud on the part of the cops.

[oblivious]

81. Since when are condoms and flour banned on planes.

This is the first I've heard of it. Who's ever heard of drug smugglers packing condoms with cocaine and putting them in their luggage? Swallowing them, maybe but in their luggage? That's too ridiculous for words. These screeners, police and lab personnel should be fined, fired and laughed out of town.

Busted for condoms and flour! There's no end to the stupidity.

[Hobarticus]

21. You're right.

I should be able to transport replicas of bombs, or carry life-like weapon replicas on planes...otherwise, my rights are being trampled. It's wrong for the police to stop and detain me if they find condoms stuffed with a white powder on my person. Following common sense is enabling W and Osama. Right on.

[Erika]

24. Get real. Condoms filled with flour by a college student?

Osama and W have won. You've lost America through your unreasonable paranoia and given their enablers support.

[Hobarticus]

25. You can't be serious...

I have to assume you're kidding.

[Erika]

31. About American kids being kids? Perfectly serious.

Now do you want to submit your PC manual for their regulation?

[Hobarticus]

41. Seriously, now....you're joshing, right?

This isn't a case of PC, it's common sense. Surely you can discern the difference between the two.

[Erika]

45. That condom and pinch of flour could be deadly

These college kids should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for committing such a crime.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

51. Sometimes PC is more important than common sense.

If somebody wants to joke about something, the freedom to joke
is more important than the consequences of the joke if it goes
bad. To not do the joke once they thought of it would be giving
up the liberty of joking to the war on terrorism.

[Erika]

59. When was the last time an American Girl committed a

terrorist act? You need to shake yourself and wake-up.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

60. What are you talking about, I agree with you.

It is necessary sometimes to do what may be stupid in
order to exercise your freedom. What those youngesters did
is a action of courage and that it was a joke or not is
not important.

[Erika]

69. Was it supposed to be private? Yes

American kids have a right to privacy and humor. What was stupid was the assumptions of the authorities, NOT the acts of the kids.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

71. That's why they HAD to do it once they thought of it.

KID1: Let's put condoms and flour in your suitcase.
KID2: What about W, war on terror, paranoia?
KID1: Huh? What's that got to do with it?
KID2: Exactly, but that's why we can't do it. What if they
find it and the test goes bad intentional or not, and somebody
goes to jail for three weeks?
KID1: That shouldn't decide if we want to do something that is
not against the law, funny or not.
KID2: So if we don't do it now, we're giving in to W, the
paranoia, etc?
KID1: Yes.
KID2: Then we have to do it. No matter what happens, we could regret
it if we don't do it just out of either our paranoia or theirs.
KID1: OK.

[MercutioATC]

88. When was the last time before 9/11 that some Middle Eastern males hijacked

and crashed four planes?

[Beelzebud]

97. When was the last time an American Girl smuggled cocaine?

It happens every day, and is happening right now somewhere.

This has nothing to do with W, 9/11, or terrorism. Cocaine in the condom is what this is about. Do you realize how many people have been busted over the years for cocain filled condoms on airplanes?

[aaronnyc]

107. Thank you

Finally, someone who gets it. I've read this entire thread, and keep seeing this somehow related to W's "War on Terror" - when clearly this should be compared to the "War on Drugs", which was going on well before Bush ever became president. Nobody thought the girl was a terrorist; they thought she was a drug smuggler. Suspicion of drug smuggling has been taken very seriously for decades - it didn't start with the Patriot Act. Somehow, I don't think that authorities who checked the bags at the airport during the Clinton administration, would have been any more amused by this girl's practical joke, than are those who are checking bags during W's admin.

[Warren DeMontague]

34. My hunch is that they're so busy trying the eighth of weed in someones bag

they're going to MISS the people with the weapons.

But that's just me.

[sandnsea]

42. Why do you do that?

Why do you think comparing two items that have nothing to do with each other is an argument? A condom is not a replica of any weapon whatsoever, well, in this context anyway. Why do you pretend it is? I'll never understand why people hyperbolate like that.

Sure, she should have been stopped. But at the same time, you ought to be concerned that we're getting false positives out of flour. How safe does that make us???

[Hobarticus]

48. Weapons and drugs are both no-nos on a plane...

If you have the commnon sense to realize that trying to smuggle in fake weapons is a bad idea, then why carry fake drugs on a plane? Aren't both REAL items illegal? What's the difference?

She wasn't carrying a bag of flour. She was carrying white powder packed into condoms. She purposely dressed flour like narcotics. Stupid.

It isn't hyperbole to try and apply the same faulty logic that someone is using to another circumstance. It doesn't have to be fake guns. Name any other thing you know is illegal, and simulate it.

I am concerned that there was a false positive. But, that's not what's being discussed in this context.

Look, all I asked was, way back in my original post, why anyone would do this. Then I'm told I'm paranoid, being overly PC, and living in fear. Let's talk about hyperbole, shall we?

[Erika]

50. So put out to all college kids. Do not pack flour

it could be a cause to keep you three weeks in jail according to Osama and W. We're still waiting on the degree of guilt assumed if you pack condoms. Certainly do not combine condoms and flour. To do so, is PC incorrect and you could be locked up a long time. W has done away with the Constitution. So don't look there for help.

[Erika]

52. College kids have fun

I've yet to see an American female college kid be a national security threat. But we now live under Osama and W. The world has changed (sarcasm intended)

[sandnsea]

58. Now you're switching your argument

You said they were weapon like replicas. They weren't. Hyperbole. Hysterial arguments. Absolutely useless.

Our government, on the other hand, couldn't tell the difference between flour and dangerous substances. If you're so damned concerned for your safety, THAT ought to be where your concern lies. Not some dumb college prank. We used to know that in this country, I don't know where in the hell that kind of common sense went.

[Hobarticus]

62. No, I did not switch my argument....read for content...

I gave a hypothetical situation to frame flawed logic in.

I am concerned for my safety, and the false positive and the resultant three-weeks' detainment does concern me. But that's not what I was talking about, and that never came up in the post until you brought it up.

[sandnsea]

65. Don't you think it should have???

That's my point. You go off the deep end about a nothing little joke, but don't even recognize the REAL danger which is that your government is INCOMPETENT. Geezo.

[Hobarticus]

72. In the context of the discussion I was having? No.

Go way back, to post #6. It's mine. I'll recap:

"Why would anyone do something like this?"

You'll note that the other poster isn't talking about government incompetence, either.

[sandnsea]

73. Yeah, instead of

my government doesn't know the difference between flour and drugs and that's unacceptable to me.

Who cares why she did it? What if it was me and my special apple brown betty topping in a tupperware dish? Would you be asking why I did that? Isn't it just as likely to carry drugs, or anything else, in a tupperware dish as a condom? Don't you want the government to be able to tell the difference?

I know why she did it, people do stupid things because that's the way people are. So friggin' what. We spend billions of dollars on testing equipment in order to know when we're in danger, that's the entire point of spending the money. Our government failed, a-gain.

[Hobarticus]

75. Why do you do that?

Why do you think comparing two items that have nothing to do with each other is an argument?

I just hate it when people get all hyperbolic.

[sandnsea]

76. flour is flour

Whereas, a condom isn't a bomb. :eyes:

[Hobarticus]

78. ...and your special apple brown betty topping is delish, I'm sure

Go chastise another poster. There's several here in this thread who could use re-education.

Peace out. Good luck to the Seahawks, seriously.

[sandnsea]

79. Thank you

It's been a long time coming. Seriously. A couple years ago we were ready to have a ceremonial paraphernalia burning in the front yard, seahawk paraphernalia, not the flour kind. :)

[Hobarticus]

80. I'll PayPal you ten bucks if you smuggle a football in a condom on a plane

Just had to give Holmgren some time. I knew he'd get the Seahawks' to the show, eventually.

:toast:

[sandnsea]

82. lol, well,

it'd be the Amtrak because if I decide to let loose of some cash to go to a game, that's how we'd go. I sure as hell can't come up with the bucks for Detroit, if we make it that far.

Defense. The defense FINALLY got it together. That's what I think. I've been watching for decades, but I still don't know enough to analyze a game or a strategy. Then again, I can't play chess either. And I'm still waiting for somebody to break a leg or something. I feel like a Boston fan, it'll never happen, and don't even pretend that you think it will or you'll jinx it!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

100. Wrong.

"She purposely dressed flour like narcotics."

Actually, she made joke 'stress-balls' out of flour and condoms and was taking them home to give as gag gifts.

Stupid college prank.

The test never should have come back positive, and she never should have spent more than a few minutes being detained.

[High Plains]

53. Sure police can be suspicious and test the white powder.

The problem is she was arrested and held under an ungodly bond in jail for three weeks on the basis of a test that was fucked up. It was either incompetence or fraud on the part of the cops.

And it sounds bogus: The powder tested positive for opium AND cocaine? Pretty strange.

And goddamnit, they could have just tasted it to verify if they were such hotshot narcs!

[Erika]

55. W's and Osama's America

I hope she gets results from her suit.

[Hobarticus]

61. THERE's the real problem...

Look, I'm not defending the bogus results, or the cops, or anything. It was dumb, but she didn't deserve to cool her heels for three weeks based on a false positive, or even on poor judgement. I'm not endorsing that at all.

[Erika]

66. No College kid deserves 3 weeks in jail

for condoms and flour packed in her luggage.

[Hobarticus]

68. Or for a stupid stunt...never said she did n/t

[Erika]

70. The stupidity was the actions of the authorities

She has a right to privacy which W and Osama are shredding.

[neweurope]

86. It was'nt even a stunt. Read my post Nr.85

------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[oblivious]

83. What if she had filled them with jelly, or pellets or beans?

What's ok and what's not? This is ridiculous.

[XOKCowboy]

56. I've gotta agree - Pretty Stupid

I hope they get countersued for wasting everyone's time due to their joke.

[Raine]

74. Yeah

really it was pretty stupid and anyway where was the humor in that supposed to be. :eyes:

[Greyhound]

93. Being stoopid is not a crime (thankfully) and is certainly not

sufficient reason to be jailed for 3 weeks on 1/2 million dollar bond. This is almost as outrageous as your admonishment.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Interestingly enough, pre 9-11... EVERY time I flew out of that airport.

when I was visiting my then-girlfriend, now wife, at school...

I got "randomly" selected for a bag x-ray and super thorough search. Go sit on that chair, while this cop will watch to make sure you don't make a break for it... What could it be, I wondered? Hmmmm? Could I be on a list? Did I look shifty? Was it just crazy odds?

I mean, this happened EVERY fucking time I was in that airport. And again, this was way before 9-11.

Or could it possibly be something else.. hmmmmmmmm........ my past-my-shoulder length hair, maybe?

Yeah. The bag security guys always seemed extra excited, like they had 'nabbed' a hippie. Sorry chums, not a stem, not a seed- those days are long past me. Maybe if you had searched my duffel bag back in college... but no such luck. Waaaah. Thanks for making me almost miss my plane again, though.

This has never happened on the West Coast. Only on the East, where apparently it's still :crazy: really weird :crazy: for a man to have long hair, and we must all look like drug smugglers straight out of "Easy Rider".:eyes:

[Erika]

27. My 8 year old neice was nabbed by the airport handlers

She had metal brads in her designer jeans. She was wanded, searched, shoes x-rayed and all the rest of the paranoia. Osama and W at work.

[northzax]

28. I have longish hair

and a beard most of the time. and I don't get picked for greater security than I would expect. My license looks remarkably like a mug shot of a terrorist as developed by "24" olive complexion, long hair and a beard. I pay cash for plane tickets, and I still don't get searched. strange.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. They're watching you, maybe

they probably figure you're some kind of ringleader.. :hippie:

[northzax]

33. is that the clicking noise on my phone?

I was wondering what that was.

maybe it's because I'm a government informant? I jsut made 50 bucks selling your ass down the river! ain't not entrapment any more! :evilgrin:

[Warren DeMontague]

38. Wow. I had no idea I was so valuable.

I should have sold my own ass down the river. Dammit!

[northzax]

40. I'll smuggle you in some fruitcake

you can use it in the secret detention facilities to buy stuff. for some reason, fruitcake is like smokes in Attica, pure gold. who knows why?

that and brush. do you have any brush avaliable that you could be seen clearing? the big guy likes that.

[Warren DeMontague]

77. I don't think I'll fit in the fruitcake

but I'll bring a snorkel just in case.

[neweurope]

30. The case even made it into the German media. Stupid of

the girl to carry those condomes along (can't even understand why the girls think flour-filled condomes are funny in the first place, but then I live in one of the many sexually open countries). HOWEVER it took the authorities THREE WEEKS to find out it was only flour. That's irresponsible. And 500 000 bail is incredible.

If the two initial tests really showed drugs where there was only flour - than those tests must be thrown into the garbage, pronto. I shudder to think how many others might land in jail because of faulty tests - maybe people without money and outside family and friends to help them out of the mess.

----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[buddysmellgood]

54. Joke: Something said or done to evoke laughter

or amusement, especially an amusing story with a punch line.
A mischievous trick; a prank.
An amusing or ludicrous incident or situation.

Ok, I guess this falls under the mischievous trick category. But my god. What a stupid, stupid thing to do.
It is a crime that a "joke" does not have to be funny.
This three-week detention thing is utter bullshit.

[neweurope]

85. No joke, no prank, just thoughtlessness.

In the article I read in German DER SPIEGEL - exactly the same article, just a little longer - it was explained that the girls in school gave each other those condoms, that they played around with them while studying, it was supposed to be "relaxing". The girl just took the stupid condom with her as a keepsake, that was all. She didn't even mean to play a prank on the airport personnel at all. Imagine the poor child being in jail, thinking for weeks she'd have to stay there - totally innocent - for 20 years. Boy, your system sucks.

--------------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[MercutioATC]

89. Where'd the flour come from, then?

She "relaxed" by putting flour into a condom? Doesn't that sound a little strange to you?

[neweurope]

113. The flour probably came from a supermarket, or wherever

Americans buy flour normally.

Yes,it sounds strange to me. But then everything that concernes ANYTHING even remotely sexual in the US sounds strange to me. Compared to Europe the US seem to be very stuck up. In Europe sexuality is totally in the open, and college girls would not think flour filled condoms a joke. Twelve year olds might, though - no idea, been decades since I've been a twelve year old :)

The article in DER SPIEGEL said (my very bad translation):

"We squeeze them in our hands while we are studying. That helps against the learning stress"... making such (flour filled) condoms while having a little party in the dormitory was a joke among girls and a traditional gag among the first semesters at Bryn Mawr..."

I have no idea whether first semesters at Bryn Mawr really do this or not. And I really don't care all that much: Somebody was in jail for three weeks for flour. If I were American and cared I'd try to find out, though. :)

----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[buddysmellgood]

91. So why did they put flour in them? Relaxing with a condom? We're not

getting the full story.

[neweurope]

114. See my post Nr. 113.

[Mutley]

84. I understand why she would be upset...

why would a drug screen test flour positive as drugs? :shrug:

But on the other hand, who in their right mind thinks it's okay to 'play a joke' at an airport in this day and age? What in the world possessed her to do that?

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

102. She wasn't playing a joke at the airport

A flour-filled condom was a device that she and her friends at school were using as stress relief. Like those squeeze balls you can buy at the store, except that these were home made. I think they are funny in a college-age immature sort of way. She just happened to try carrying them in her luggage while traveling without realizing that it might be a stupid idea.

Did she deserve to be searched and the contents of the condoms tested? Absolutely. Did she deserve THREE WEEKS in jail without a trial (or for that matter evidence of a crime) Absolutely NOT. I thought there were laws in this country about how long someone could be detained without evidence. The police broke the law in my opinion and she deserves to be compensated.

[Mutley]

117. Of course not.

I know I didn't imply that she does deserve what happened to her. I just wanted to know what she was thinking. Anyone who has watched even a little news in the last few years knows that you don't do that sort of thing at an airport -- even before 9/11.

[Beelzebud]

95. What a moron. What purpose does flour in a condom serve?

Seriously. What kind of a fucking idiot brings flower filled condoms on an airplane?

It has nothing to do with W, 9/11, or Anthrax.

Cocaine filled condoms is how people smuggle small amounts into the country. We've been looking for that sort of thing since the 70's.

You'd have to be a complete, utter, moron to bring something like this on an airplane.

No sympathy for this girl. Some lessons need to be learned the hard way for some, and she seems to lack common sense.

[progressivebydesign]

99. What an idiot. "Pain and suffering"???

Oh brother. What kind of moran would actually think it was funny to fill up balloons with flour? I've been around, but believe me... it would never occur to me that people put drugs in balloons. She doesn't deserve 500k, what a greedy ignoramous.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

103. "What an idiot"

You are absolutely right. She deserves the 3 weeks in jail for attempting humor that you didn't find funny. :eyes: In fact, I advocate jailing all comedians that I don't find funny.

[Beelzebud]

106. She IS an idiot. A condom filled with white powder... Sounds like cocaine

I mean seriously. This has nothing to do with a sense of humor. It has to do with common sense.

You don't bring a damn condom filled with white powder on an airplane unless you want a rectal exam by a DEA agent.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

110. But it wasn't cocaine

And therefore they have no justification for putting her in jail. Something that looks like a drug is probable cause to do a search but it had better really be a drug if they are going to jail her for three weeks.

[neweurope]

115. Yes / nt

[JVS]

104. Dumb thing to do

[ultraist]

105. I'm not surprised about the prelim test results

Going thru airport security a couple of years ago, my purse showed traces of explosives. I can't remember if it was a wand or a sniffer thing they used. Anyway, they took me in the back and checked it out further. I informed them that I had spilled a cup of water on my purse which had a handful of vitamins in it---they all disintegrated in my purse. They shrugged and let me go.

Some of the equipment they use is not very precise and picks up false positives.

I'm curious about the security device I walked through in Toronto to get into a building. It looked like a metal dectector you walk through at airports but it had air jets that blew air on you and explosive sniffer devices. Why don't our airports have these?

[jmowreader]

108. A weekend in the joint would have been plenty

There are people who need to go to jail just for being fucking stupid. This is one of them.

Who the fuck thinks walking around like a Drug Mule with white powder-filled condoms in her suitcase is funny? I would think that if someone took this kind of thing through a TSA checkpoint, the resulting bedlam at the checkpoint would delay a lot of people and either cause some of them to miss their flights or cause airlines to try to reshuffle their whole schedules to compensate.

If I'd have been the security guys and the cops in this situation, I'd have "blown" the field test on purpose, thrown her ass in jail, left it there to sweat for a day or so, then pulled her into the nastiest-looking interrogation room I could find, explained what a drug mule is and how they transport small amounts of narcotics, then taken her back to the airport. And because I'm nice, I would have called the airline and asked them to reschedule her flight so she could get where she was going. She needed a good sound whack on the nose with a newspaper that has a 2x4 rolled up in it, but three weeks is definitely excessive. (If she wins this case, it's going to revolve around the length of her detention and not the fact of it.)

It's probably illegal as hell to do this, but I guarantee that she wouldn't have tried packing flour-filled condoms in her luggage again.

[Solon]

109. If the cops did do as you suggested you want to do, they deserve jail time

I can't believe some of the responses, first at the ignorance displayed as to WHY she had them on her in the first place, as stress "ball" gag gifts for family and friends. And second that keeping someone in jail for 3 weeks is somehow acceptable, even for a weekend it is too much, with no evidence and no cause.