(KMOV)- A St. Louis man who was jailed and charged with making a threat about a shoe bomb was released Tuesday. Michael Shafermeyer, 30, was arrested Saturday boarding a flight at Lambert Airport Saturday. After spending 3 ½ days in jail, he spoke with News 4 to give his side of the story. Shafermeyer said he was flying to Maryland to get married and because he was anxious about the wedding and nervous about flying, he had a few drinks before getting to the airport.
His friends describe him as a guy with a non-stop, quirky sense of humor. When a flight attendant asked him to close his laptop after boarding, Shafermeyer says he was just trying to make a joke when he asked her, “Are you the one who checks for shoe bombs?” He said within minutes federal agents whisked him off the plane and he spent the next 2 ½ days in solitary confinement at the St. Louis County Jail. The final day in jail, he was put in general holding with 20-30 other people, who he said stood and gave him a standing ovation when he first walked into the room. Shafermeyer said he’s charged with making a false bomb report. He still plans to go to Maryland to get married, but will take the train to get there.
WARNING: Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Flight Attendant!
Good idea GigG. Put a bullet in this guys head for that remark.
And after that, go F yourself.
He’s luck he wasn’t on the London underground. They would have just shot him on the spot.
Perhaps a new legal category for people like Mr Shafermeyer should be created: JUI – joking whilst under the influence.
The flight attendant didn’t have a choice. If another passenger overheard the comment and told someone that she didn’t do anything about it, she could have lost her job.
Best assessment of the TSA I’ve read lately was on another blog the other day by someone who claimed to work at an airport. “They (The TSA”) are about as useful as a meth addled monkey in a pillowcase.”
If I ever gather the cash necessary to flee this inept police state, it’ll be by sea.
“Shafermeyer said he’s charged with making a false bomb report.”
The story makes no mention that there was a bomb report…
#24. And your surprised because?
I had a friend who claims he was nearly evicted from a plane after mentioning that some movie or another was “a bomb.” My friend tends to exaggerate but it sounds believable.
Maybe, at the secur4ity check point, right next to the graphic showing us what sorts of things we are not allowed to carry on to the plane, they could post a list of words we are not allowed to say.
If he is accurate in what he claims he said, there is no way the man’s joking/sarcastic question could be construed as a threat.
What part of “NEVER TALK OR, JOKE ABOUT BOMBS ON A PLANE” didn’t he understand? He earned the lock-up and the lesson, don’t travel drunk and trying to be funny.
#29, Sinn Fein,
What part of “NEVER TALK OR, JOKE ABOUT BOMBS ON A PLANE” didn’t he understand?
The part where the 1st Amendment says Congress shall make no law restricting the freedom of speech. While it is understood that threats and slander are beyond the 1st Amendment, there was no threat, express or implied, here.
OR, as someone else wrote, the terrorists have won.