[Missouri-l] {Disarmed} Belgian Gets a Taste of Airline Justice

[Nancy Lynn]

This is Erik Deckers' latest column. Some of you might remember him from his 
work at GW Micro. Enjoy.




Stop by my blog at www.ErikDeckers.com. I've been blogging from the 
Indianapolis Motor Speedway about some of the racers. I'll also have a 
special announcement about one of the teams around 10:00 am.

Erik
---
Erik Deckers
Visit me at
www.ErikDeckers.com

Belgian Gets a Taste of Airline Justice
Erik Deckers
Laughing Stalk Syndicate
Copyright 2009

Nicholas Cantisani still has nightmares from his arrest when he was dragged 
off his airline flight in April. His crime? He leaped to his feet, charged 
the cockpit, and threatened everyone on board.

Just kidding. He was arrested for asking why the flight was delayed for more 
than two hours. So Philadelphia police dragged Cantisani off the flight, and 
held him for hours without any food or water.

Cantisani, who is blind from birth, was sitting on the plane with his wife. 
They had been in New York visiting family, and were returning home to 
Brussels, Belgium. Their plane had backed away from the gate, and sat on the 
runway for two hours without moving.

Airlines will back away from a gate and call it a departure. They do it so 
they can keep their on-time departure stats up. However, the time of the 
landing is marked when the plane touches down, not when it arrives at the 
gate. Either way, they can sit and wait for as long as they want, and 
there's not a darn thing you can do about it, because they'll arrest you if 
you raise a stink.

Just ask Cantisani.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Cantisani, who is a professional 
translator, was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He was 
arraigned this past Thursday.

After the plane sat for a while, they were told the plane would be delayed, 
but were not given any reasons why. Cantisani said they weren't allowed to 
use their phones, receive any food or drinks from the flight attendants, or 
even move from their seats.

Cantisani, not being familiar with the martial law imposed by all airlines 
when it comes to questioning their authority, stood up to ask for water and 
to speak to the crew. He was ordered to sit down instead.

Later, he talked with the captain, and was told the problem was "mechanical 
difficulties." No problem. Cantisani sat back down and waited.

Sometime later, another passenger made a comment about the crew, so three 
cops escorted him off the plane. (Oh sure, THEY get to move around.) Then 
they tried to remove Cantisani.

So Cantisani, flashing back to the "then they came for me" poem by Martin 
Niemöller, refused to leave, shouting "I am not a trade unionist."

Just kidding. He actually did refuse to leave, clutching his seat belt so 
tightly they couldn't take him away. And three cops against a blind 
61-year-old man will win every time. He injured his hand, lost his 
retractable cane, and said one cop had him by the throat.

Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, told the Daily News they had been 
called to the gate because of "a disorderly passenger." He did not specify 
if the rabble rouser was Cantisani or the other passenger who hurted the 
crew's feewings.

My favorite line in the whole story:

"Officers told him they had done the 'blind test' and didn't believe he was 
blind"

Lt. Vanore said he did not know of any "blind test" that the police did. In 
fact, I don't know that there is any kind of "blind test" ever.

I used to work in the blindness field for over a year, and I can tell you 
there is no such thing as a "blind test." At least not one a police officer 
is certified to give. Which makes me think their so-called test involved 
jumping out and shouting "BOO!" Or more likely it involved the cops 
hollering "I SAID, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

Cantisani was then questioned by a psychiatrist to determine his mental 
state.

"I SAID, ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

At 3:00 a.m., he was taken to the police station, and was detained until 
late that evening.

"I was never read my rights. I was put against the wall, told to put [my] 
hands on the wall, empty [my] pockets and undo my shoelaces," Cantisani told 
the Daily News. "Then, I was shoved into a 6-by-7-foot cell and that was 
it."

Cantisani said no one believed he was blind until the end of his stay. I 
hope they at least felt stupid enough to apologize to him.

"I SAID, WE'RE VERY SORRY WE DIDN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

Cantisani said he is not planning to return to Philadelphia, which means 
Peruto will represent him in court. It also means Cantisani is able to 
remain in Europe and tell the Philadelphia Police what they can do with 
their arraignment.

"I SAID, YOU CAN FREAKIN' BITE ME!"



__._,_.___
Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic
Messages

Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format 
to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity
Visit Your Group
Give Back
Yahoo! for Good

Get inspired

by a good cause.

Y! Toolbar
Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups
Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.
.

__,_._,___ 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://moblind.org/pipermail/missouri-l_moblind.org/attachments/20090515/7984ac71/attachment.html>