Don't Mess With Air Marshals

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:02pm

These guys take their jobs very seriously. If this guy was mentally unstable, then there has to be a way to try and address these types of issues before someone gets hurt. But, if you go around saying you have a bomb, then make a run for the tarmack, I cannot really fault the Air Marshall for reacting the way he did.

"MIAMI - A passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday on a jetway to an American Airlines plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said. No bomb was found in the bag, a U.S. official said.

Federal officials said the 44-year-old American indicated he had a bomb in his carry-on bag during a flight from the Colombian city of Medellin, where airport security is generally considered tight.

He was confronted by two air marshals upon landing in Miami, tried to flee into the terminal along the passenger ramp, and was shot when he ignored an order to put his bag on the ground."






Airline Passenger Who Made Threat Killed Updated On: 12/7/05 at 06:02 PM

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:03pm

Apparently, the guy was bi-polar and hadn't yet taken his medication.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:08pm

His wife, knowing he was bipolar, let him go on an airplane without taking his medication? She HAD to have known the chances were pretty good he'd run up and down the aisle with his hand in the bag screaming, "I'VE GOT A BOMB! I'VE GOT A BOMB!"

I mean, it can't have been the first time he acted like that.

Nice way to bump off a problem spouse...

Updated On: 12/7/05 at 06:08 PM

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:09pm

Yep.

I am not sure what could have been done here, other than having him take his medication. If he is going to make a threat, it must be assumed that they will take it seriously.

This is just too bad all the way around. For the family, for the Marshall that shot him, for everyone.

[justme2]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:13pm

It's a sad situation all around.

I'm with PalJoey here on this one though...why the hell is he flying without taking his medication? And the wife was with him and knew he hadn't taken it, but she thinks it's ok to get him on a plane?

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:23pm

I agree as well. I am not sure what the wife was thinking, except clearly she was not.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:26pm

Just playing devils advocate here - it is possible she did not know until they were on the plane that he had not taken the meds. Just a thought - it is a long flight from Columbia - still, it's very sad.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 6:35pm

Yes, people lie about taking their medication. You can't necessarily blame the wife.

Updated On: 12/7/05 at 06:35 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 8:36pm

This makes me really warm & fuzzy about allowing small pointed objects again. The other pointed things are the heads of those who allowed this nonsense to happen

[shameless]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 9:26pm

It's tragic, but the air marshall had a few seconds to decide whether to risk one life or to risk hundreds.

[Plum]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 9:37pm

From everything I've been reading, the Air Marshall reacted exactly as he or she was supposed to, and definitely can't be faulted. Heaven knows plenty of other people won't see it this way, but this is a situation when no one is left to blame.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 9:47pm

Except the person who failed to take his meds.

That is the only person to blame here. And, if the wife was monitoring, she should look in the mirror as well.

The Air Marshal did what he was supposed to do.

Plum, you and I are on the same page here.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 11:46pm

Whose responsibility is it to take your meds? Maybe it was his wife's job to make sure he takes them but is the medication the real issue here?

There is no evidence that this couldn't have happened even with his medication.

I live 30 minutes from Miami and this has been on TV constantly. I even missed Oprah and Dr. Phil...

Reading a different article it said:
"A team of air marshals pursued and ordered the passenger to get on the ground. The passenger did not comply and was shot when apparently reaching into a bag"

I think the air marshalls did the right. They asked him to get on the ground and since he did not comply, they had to take the next step. No, he didn't have any bombs but at that point they didn't know and since he wasn't obeying the marshalls, it was putting many people in unknown danger.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 11:52pm

This was very sad.

A wife can't force her husband to take his meds, and she was screaming trying to alert the guards to his condition to try and save him.

I feel so bad for his family.

And for the guards as they realize they shot someone mentally ill instead of criminal.

When police officers in Honolulu had to shoot an African elephant who had killed his trainer and run amok they were crying after and had to go into grief counseling. Imagine how these air marshalls must feel.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 1:02am

This is a sad, sad event. No, the wife is NOT responsible. Many bi-polar people live normal lives when they are on the correct medication. But medication is not a magic potion. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. People lie all the time about taking their medication and for different reasons. Perhaps his meds make him groggy, or perhaps they affect him differently when he is in a pressurized cabin for any length of time and knowing he was going to be traveling decided not risk not taking them in order to feel alert for his trip. There are so many factors that to say, "Well, it's his own fault for not taking his meds." Or, "His wife should have known." is just too simplistic.

[DG]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 1:06am

Thank you, Sueleen.

And Mr. Roxy, I quite simply don't understand the point you're trying to make.

[DAME]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 1:39am

Wow. Just reading about this now.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 5:35am

As someone who has close family members that suffer from BiPolar, I find it rather offensive that Youwantitwhen? would suggest that this is the man's fault.

This is a rather blameless situation. Part of the disease of BiPolar includes denial and rejection of medication. It is very common for people with this disease to stop taking the medication, and convince family members they took them. But this is PART OF THE DISEASE.

It is certainly not the man's fault, nor the wife's. But also, not the Air Marshal, someone who simply did his/her job.

Imagine the controversy if they didn't shoot, and there had been a bomb...

As I said, this is a tragic and blameless situation. But that people would say this is the man or his wife's fault, shows a terrible lack of understanding of this disease...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 8:28am

Okay point taken. But I know some bi-polar people and NONE of them would run around an airport shouting "I'VE GOT A BOMB!" Even off their meds.

So either the witnesses are making that up or he was delusional beyond a diagnosis of bipolar.

I mean, we ALL get stressed at airports--wouldn't that eb the one place you would be SURE to take you meds?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 8:32am

What irked me was the instant way it was politicized. On CNN, within two hours, members of congress jumped on camera to tout "the system works!", taking lurid advantage of this tragic if unavoidable act, to not so subtly dilute the scathing 9/11 commission report published a mere two days ago. This incident is not fodder for myriad generalizations about any "system." It simply suggests that screaming fire in a crowded theater, or bomb on a plane, can result in the ultimate action.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:23am

Paradox - I was only saying that the man should have taken his meds before he was flying on a plane - and if a woman is married to someone with mental illness, she should try and make sure he has. I do not mean to offend, and understand the issue with Bipolar disorder, trust me.

I also understand that one of the issues if people do not want to take their meds. It is a challenge, especially once the meds work, and they think that they no longer need them.

But - from what I have read, he was getting onto the plane voluntarily. Either he, or his wife, should have made sure he took his meds before he got on the plane, especially in this heightened environment of fear.

If, and only if, you want to allocate blame, then that is where I place it. Like you, I cannot fault the Air Marshal in this instance.

If you are offended, I am sorry. But trust me, I am well aware of the issues with Bipolar disorders - but this man sounded like he was something other than Bipolar - this was not a crazy high or the depths of depression. This was something else. As PJ says, none of the bipolar folks I know exhibit this kind of behaviour. Even off their meds.

I know, we can blame his doctor for perhaps misdiagnosing the illness.
Updated On: 12/8/05 at 10:23 AM

[RobbO]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:35am

scary

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:46am

RobbO, totally off-topic, but your Avatar sure puts me in the holiday mood. I could just stare at that for hours . . .

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 11:23am

As with all diseases Bi-Polar can affect different people in different ways. Just because the people YOU know would never do this is either an indication that their meds are successfully taming the symptoms of their disease, or that the disease manifests itself in a different manner than it did this poor man. How do you know that the your friends would NEVER act this way? How were they diagnosed? What episode led them to the hospital in the first place? It is so easy to blame the "crazy" person, or the Doctor.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 1:04pm

Sueleen, if your comment was directed towards me, I did not intend to speak in absolutes.

I have not experience every permutation of Bipolar disorder, and I am not a mental health professional. I was only speaking of what I have witnessed and/or been told by close friends who have battled this disease. Not all who suffer from Bipolar are hospitalized.

And, as for psychosis - while it is not common, it can occur. But usually, it is part of a larger incident, and are part of an extreme mood swing. I have not personally witnessed this phenomenon or had friends tell me of them occurring, which does not mean it has or has not happened to them.

It is hard to say no one is to blame when someone is killed as happened here.