prosecute southwest airline gate agent for abusing the laws to intimidate a citizen from his free speech right.

A southwest airlines gate agent abused their authority by threatening to arrest and attempt to prosecute a passenger for "tweeting" their opinion of the customer service they received. The agent asserted that because the passenger used the name on the agents tag that it constituted a threat. The agent halted the activities of the airline to have the passenger and family removed from the plane. This appears to be the agent interfering in the normal operations of an airliner for the sole purpose of intimidating a passenger into doing what they want. While we grant certain authority to the people who work within the transportation industry, we cannot hold them above the law. When they abuse the authority that we provide them, it is our responsibility to correct it.