No felony charges to be filed against American hero who gave TSA agent an 'enhanced' pat down
Jonathan Benson, staff writer
A true American hero, Miyamae will reportedly not have felony charges filed against her, according to a CBS 4 Denver report, however she could still face local misdemeanor charges in her hometown of Longmont, Colorado.
Upon being assaulted by several TSA agents for refusing to be irradiated by the naked body scanner or sexually assaulted with a pat down, Miyamae allegedly grabbed the breasts of one of a TSA agent and twisted them. She was subsequently arrested on potential charges of sexual assault, and released the following day (http://www.naturalnews.com/033048_T...).
Miyamae, a frequent air traveler who is a self-employed translator, author, and radio producer, apparently tried to explain to TSA agents that she did not want to go through the naked body scanner because of excessive radiation exposure, and instead would prefer to just go through the normal metal detector. She also requested not to be pat down because it violates not only the US Constitution, but also her personal privacy.
The agents, of course, refused her request, and immediately began to approach and surround her in a threatening way. Miyamae apparently became concerned and panicked about how the agents were treating her, and her lawyer says she felt "endangered and threatened based upon prior traumatizing security pat downs [and] repugnance at the prospect of being touched again in such a violent and undignified manner." So her response was to push the approaching female TSA agent away from her, and give the agent a dose of her own medicine by grabbing her breasts and twisting them.
Apparently the rapid spread of the story -- as well as several Facebook groups with several thousand supporters rallying in support of Miyamae -- have led authorities to back off and let Miyamae go with no charges filed against her.
After all, what she did is no different than what thousands of TSA agents across the US do to millions of air travelers every single day. But Miyamae's supporters are hoping that Longmont officials will acquit her as well, and that no further action will be taken against her.
The Facebook group "Acquit Yukari Mihamae" has more than doubled its number of supporters since NaturalNews published the first story on this issue yesterday, jumping from 1,834 to 4,247 as of this writing (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Acqui...). Miyamae's personal friends have also set up a "Yukari Miyamae Legal Defense Fund" Facebook page to support her as well (http://www.facebook.com/YukariDefense).
Though she has not yet made an official statement to the public, Miyamae stated in a recent "tweet" on Twitter that both police statements and "Fox coverage" have "not depict[ed] accurately what happened to me on July 14th at Phoenix Airport in Maricopa county [sic], Arizona."
Sources for this story include:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...
http://www.naturalnews.com/z033087_enhanced_pat_down_TSA.html
July 22, 2011