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Abbott was accompanying her daughter to the gate but not flying herself. She eventually allowed her daughter to undergo the pat-down, but then refused one for herself. By that point, airport police officer Jeff Nolen had been called and he testified that he asked her several times to calm down, but she wouldn't.
"You're not putting your (expletive) hands on me, this is (expletive)," he recalled Abbott saying.
Nolen said he then arrested Abbott, who he said continued to curse and call officers pedophiles. Abbott had lived in Clarksville when she was charged and has since moved to Texas.
"She gave him no option," district attorney King said Tuesday. "She put him in that position with her behavior."
During her testimony, Abbott acknowledged that she did say a few curse words, but said she wasn't in anyone's face and had a "normal conversation" about what she believed to be inappropriate about the pat-downs.
Earlier Tuesday, Horst used a surveillance video of what happened to support his claim that Abbott was the one being yelled at and that she didn't create a distraction. The video, which didn't have audio, did show Nolen speaking to Abbott close up and making some hand motions. It also showed people walking around Abbott and the officers.
"It's clear from the video ... she wasn't preventing anything," Horst said.
However, district attorney King said the video "doesn't tell the complete story of this case," which she said "is not a free speech issue." She said the officers reminded Abbott several times that she could file a complaint if she had a problem with the security check proceedings.
"You can speak your mind, but you can't do it in an illegal manner," she said. "What the defendant did was a crime."
The case briefly drew national attention as hundreds offered Abbott support and donations amid debate over whether new, intrusive screening methods should be allowed at airports.
"Since 9/11, we're losing a lot of freedom, and we have to draw the line somewhere," Horst said in closing arguments.
Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/23/tenn-mom-guilty-disorderly-conduct-berated-tsa-officers-for-daughter-airport/?test=latestnews#ixzz2AB8F8400
