Man Suing TSA For Dumping Mothers Ashes In Suitcase

by Moe Diab  

After losing his mother, Shannon Thomas sought to fulfill his mother’s last wish to have her ashes spread in the tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea.
In October of 2012, Mr. Thomas boarded his flight from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and embarked on a journey to San Juan, Puerto Rico to lay his mother’s ashes to a final resting place. Instead of completing his grieving process and finally getting the closure he so desperately needed, upon arrival he discovered his mother’s ashes were spilled in his luggage, accompanied by a TSA notice of inspection.
Click here to watch CNN report.

Last Tuesday, Thomas’s attorney Adeladi Williams filed a lawsuit in Cleveland’s Federal Court, claiming TSA agents violated protocols by opening his mother’s urn and spilling her ashes in the suitcase. The TSA rulebook contains a specific section on transport and inspection of urns, which states:

If carrying on the crematory remains, they are subject to screening and must pass through the X-ray machine. If the X-ray Operator cannot clear the remains, TSA may apply other, non-intrusive means of resolving the alarm. Under no circumstances will an officer open the container, even if the passenger requests this be done. If the officer cannot determine that the container does not contain a prohibited item, the remains will not be permitted.

TSA Press Release  ‘TSA Partners With Funeral Homes To Safely Transport Cremated Remains’ stated,

Out of respect for the deceased, screeners will not open a container, even if requested by the passenger.

Filed court documents reveal Mr. Thomas complied with all TSA guidelines in packing his mother’s urn inside his suitcase upon check-in. According to Williams, the urn was “tightly screwed” and packed with “extra clothing for padding” and protection. Shannon was left in complete shock after he discovered his mother’s ashes had been dumped inside of the suitcase, covering his clothing and left with a TSA notice of inspection. Regardless of compliance with TSA guidelines and extra precautions taken, Thomas was unable to fulfill his mother’s final wish.
Thomas’s attorney is seeking $750,000 in damages from the defendants listed as “The United States of America, Transportation Security Administration, Attorney General of the United States, Department of Justice, 10 agents of employees with the TSA, and 10 other unnamed persons who had contact with the luggage.”
The lawsuit states that “The United States is liable for damage to the urn and his personal effects,” and says the actions of the TSA agents and others “constitute intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress.”
His attorney stated,

The negligent, careless, and/or reckless acts and omissions of [the TSA] violated [Mr Thomas's] right to inter the remains of his mother and constitute outrageous disturbance of human remains. The laws of these United States do not tolerate such outrageous disturbance.

In the post 9/11 era, TSA has proven to be an inefficient use of taxpayers’ dollars, a violation of basic rights to privacy, and an abuse of public trust. The empirical data demonstrates that the agency is ineffective and is depriving Americans of much needed resources to prevent future terrorist attacks from ever reaching U.S. soil. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the TSA for unimaginable violations of privacy and misconduct. Like many Americans violated by TSA misconduct and negligence, Shannon Thomas has not even received an apology.