In clear contradiction of what Transportation Security Administration officials have stated in the past, a man was arrested for videotaping TSA officials at San Diego International Airport Friday.
Sam Wolanyk was also charged with “failing to complete the security process” – even though he seemed more than happy to allow them to search him when he stripped down to his underwear.
Wolanyk initially was asked to step into the see-through scanner, but opted to have them pat him down instead.
That was when he stripped down to his underwear.
According to the [__San Diego County Political Buzz Examiner:__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/tsa-airport-screeners-gone-wild-san-diego-again)
> “It was obvious that my underwear left nothing to the imagination,” he explained. “But that wasn’t enough for the TSA supervisor who was called to the scene and asked me to put my clothes on so I could be properly patted down.”
Wolanyk was then paraded through two terminals in his underwear. At one point during this interaction, he videotaped TSA officials with his iPhone, which was confiscated.
> The incident was confirmed by Harbor Police Sergeant Rakos who said Wolanyk was arrested on two misdemeanors, “failing to complete the security process; violation code 7.01 and illegally recording the San Diego Airport Authority (they confiscated his iPhone); violation number 7.14 (a).”
It is not clear which “violation codes” he violated. A search though several [__San Diego city and county codes__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/municipalcodes.html) did not produce anything remotely close to what is listed above.
Perhaps he violated some type of San Diego Airport Authority code, but those codes are not listed on the [__airport’s website__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/www.san.org). Or maybe I’m just not looking hard enough.
Regardless of what local code he may have violated, TSA officials have stated in the past that it is not illegal to videotape the screening process, but it is illegal to videotape the actual computer screens, which would be anticlimatic to videotape anyway considering all the stripping and groping and fondling occurring in places where you *are* allowed to videotape.
Another woman was also recently arrested in San Diego for videotaping the TSA screening process.
> Powell also stated that there was another arrest of a woman who was allegedly illegally filming the x-ray, and TSA screening process with a video camera. The young woman’s camera was confiscated and she was given a citation and released from Harbor Police custody.
It was only last week that a man named [__John Tyner__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/john-tyner-refuses-tsa-body-scanner-patdown-faces-fine-video-2727936.html) made headlines when he walked through a TSA checkpoint at San Diego International Airport with a video camera, recording himself telling TSA officials that if “you touch my junk and I’m going to have you arrested.”
Tyner was escorted from the airport. Instead of being arrested for videotaping the security process, he is now facing a $10,000 fine and a civil suit for refusing to allow his junk to be groped.
Since then, TSA officials probably found some obscure law that allows them to arrest people for videotaping the screening process.
It’s so obscure, that I haven’t been able to find it posted anywhere.
Wolanyk is no stranger to controversy. He is also an open carry activist who recently won a [__$35,000 settlement__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/showthread.php?81325-San-Diego-pays-Open-Carry-Advocate-35-000-plus-pays-his-legal-fees) from the City of San Diego for having been wrongfully arrested after openly carrying an unloaded gun in a holster.