A Nashville airport police officer was captured on camera threatening to arrest stranded Southwest Airlines passengers for trespassing following the Christmas travel mayhem.
Amani Robinson, age 20, uploaded the video to TikTok on Wednesday, showing an airport officer speaking to a group of people lined up at a kiosk outside a gate.
“You do not need to be on the secured side if you do not have a ticket,” the officer reminds the consumers.
“But we have tickets!” shouts one of the irate passengers.
“Your ticket was just rescinded,” the officer responds.
Robinson’s mother, Shelley Morrison, asks the airport officer why they will be detained for trespassing, to which he responds, “If you do not have a valid ticket and you refuse to leave the secured side, you will be arrested.”
Morrison attempts to explain that their trip was delayed and not canceled, as demonstrated by a text message provided to her by the airline mere minutes before.
Another video, released by former Tennessee candidate for the state legislature Bratt Batt, shows the police threatening passengers, “You will be jailed for trespassing.”
The tourists argue that their tickets are no longer valid due to massive Southwest flight cancellations.
“You have no ticket. You are not required to remain on the secured side. “Let’s go,” the officer responds.
The police were summoned to take passengers to an unsecured location after their tickets were canceled.
The TikTok/ a.ndreart application
In a second TikTok video, Morrison continues to criticize the officer’s conduct, telling him that it is “very unacceptable” for him to threaten passengers with arrest for trespassing “just for being in line.”
Robinson and Morrison told The Tennessean that they did not show any disrespect to airport officials or Southwest employees.
Robinson added that one of the officers appeared to follow them out of the airport. Robinson stated that the officer headed in the opposite direction but remained to observe her family from a distance after she confronted him about it.
Following Wednesday’s release of the footage, the Nashville airport confirmed in a statement that officers were dispatched to C-concourse “to guide passengers to the pre-security ticketing desks.”
Airport authorities stated, “We recognize and appreciate the challenges travelers may feel, and we are working to deliver the greatest passenger experience for all.”
Morrison, on the right, unsuccessfully argued that her flight had merely been delayed and not canceled, but cops ordered she leave.
The TikTok/ a.ndreart application
The airport administration has not disclosed the identities of the cops depicted in the video or whether any passengers were arrested for trespassing.
Thousands of planes were grounded or delayed as a result of a catastrophic winter storm that pummeled huge portions of the country during the holiday weekend.
Southwest Airlines was hardest hit, canceling around 14,500 flights since Friday.
Congress and the US Department of Transportation have expressed their intent to probe the airline’s response to the winter weather.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has demanded that the airline offer refunds for canceled tickets and reimburse passengers for expenses incurred due to flight delays, including as hotel stays, transportation charges, and meals.
Southwest expected things to return to normal on Friday following a turbulent week, but the domestic carrier nonetheless recorded 41 cancellations and 99 delays at airports across the United States.
According to data made available by the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com, there were 96 cancellations and 676 delays inside, into, and out of the United States as of this morning.
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