Armed officers took dentist Anthony McCaskie (inset, photo from Weekend Nation) off the flight.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Friday November 13, 2015 – A Barbadian dentist who was pulled off an American Airlines flight at Miami International Airport by armed officers after “suspicious item” triggered an alarm, and led to the delay as many as 50 flights, is now seeking legal advice.
That “suspicious item” turned out to be a replacement cable for a Cavitron ultrasonic scaler used during teeth cleanings and Anthony McCaskie was eventually released and allowed to continue on his flight home.
But he told the Weekend Nation newspaper that he was shocked at what had occurred, considering his bag had been checked twice by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) scanners.
It turned out that there was a miscommunication and the bag was flagged by the TSA and was to go through a secondary checkpoint, but did not.
A TSA officer had stopped the X-ray machine at a checkpoint to conduct further screening of the carry-on bag, but “in the process of transitioning other passengers to an adjacent screening lane, standard procedures were not adhered to and the passenger was allowed to depart the checkpoint and proceed into the terminal,” said TSA spokesman Mike England.
There was then a search for the man and his bag. When McCaskie was found on the AA flight bound for Barbados, he was taken off in handcuffs.
Passengers were also ordered to put their hands on their heads and evacuate the plane.