Lawyer For Man Detained For Hours At PHL: TSA Supervisor Told 'Bold-faced Fabrication'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – On Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Rich Zeoli talked with Tom Malone, the lawyer for a man who was detained by the TSA and the police at Philadelphia International Airport after requesting to file a complaint about the screening process.
Malone explained his client, Roger Vanderklock, attempted to go through airport security in January 2013 when he was stopped and questioned about the running supplies he routinely travels with. What follows, Malone said, resulted in TSA supervisor Charles Kieser fabricating a story about Vanderklock making terroristic threats in order to have him arrested.
"My client didn't threaten anyone, but the security footage from the airport where this happened, clearly shows, every step of the way, entering the security checkpoint, calmly putting his things through the scan device. It shows him interacting with the TSA agents, there's a smile on his face. Not once do his hands go up in the air. Not once does he appear to be irate and certainly there isn't one inkling -- there's not anything close to him waving his finger in Agent Kieser's face. It was a bold-faced fabrication. It was a lie, and it was perjury."
He also thinks Philadelphia Police should have done more to stop the escalation of events that led to the arrest of Mr. Vanderklock.
"I would expect, at least, that the Philadelphia Police would be able to do an investigation and see that Mr. Vanderklock, who had nothing but innocent stuff in his bag, wasn't a threat to anybody. But they didn't do that. They didn't have to charge him. The TSA supervisor made up a story and told it to the police, but that story didn't constitute a crime, and the Philadelphia Police should've realized that and should've sent him on his way."
Malone stated that at trial, the Commonwealth's case fell apart after Kieser's testimony.
"The only witness and the only evidence, really, that the Commonwealth presented was the testimony Supervisor Kieser...He was the only witness. As soon as that witness was through with my cross examination, they rested their case, and the judge granted a judgment of acquittal. Basically, finding him not guilty right there on the spot before we even had a chance to call other witnesses."
