A woman walks into Logan Airport wearing a mock-up of a bomb, get’s arrested, then claims it’s protected First Amendment speech:
BOSTON— A lawyer for an MIT student held at gunpoint after she walked into Logan International Airport wearing what authorities believed was a bomb asked a judge to throw out the charges Friday, saying the device was a legitimate form of free speech.
Star Simpson, 19, of Lahaina, Hawaii, was arrested by state troopers while wearing a computer circuit board and wiring on her sweatshirt when she went to the airport to pick up her boyfriend last September. She was charged with possessing a hoax device
Thomas Dwyer Jr., a lawyer for Simpson, said his client didn’t think her shirt would scare anyone. He said she’d been wearing the shirt for several days on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, and it had not alarmed anyone.
He said many young people are fascinated by technology and wear clothing with flashing lights.
“People make these objects part of their identity. It’s a part of their personal expression,” he said. “They are legitimate forms of First Amendment expression.”
There’s dumb. There’s stupid. And there’s just plain idiotic.
Guess which category this falls into.
[...] When I read this over on Below the Beltway, I remember something that happened about this time last year. Read the Boston Globe article from February 1st, 2007 here. [...]