Pump or Bomb?

UPDATE: All charges have been dropped in this case. The TSA recommeded doing so.

Mardin Amin, who appeared in a Cook County circuit court Wednesday morning, has said he actually told the female security guard at O'Hare International Airport last month that the small, black object was a "pump" — as in a penis pump.

Prosecutors chose to follow the lead of the Transportation Safety Administration, which recently concluded that the matter did not warrant prosecution, said Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman.

Amin, 29, of Skokie, had been charged with felony disorderly conduct and faced up to three years in prison if convicted.

His attorney, Eileen O'Neill-Burke, did not immediately return a message Wednesday seeking comment.

She explained earlier that her client was embarrassed to explain the object to the security guard in front of his mother, who was traveling with him — so he whispered. The guard misunderstood, and thought he had said "bomb," O'Neill-Burke said.

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The man arrested for telling a TSA screener that his penis pump was a bomb to avoid embarrassing himself in front of his mother is now claiming he said, "Pump" not "Bomb". But a judge ruled that there is sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.

The female airport security guard held the small, black, squeezable rubber object she'd just plucked out of Mardin Amin's backpack, and eyed it suspiciously.

Standing next to his mother, an embarrassed Amin whispered out of one corner of his mouth that it was a "pump" — as in a penis pump. The guard misunderstood the Iraqi man and thought she heard the word "bomb," Amin's attorney told a Cook County judge Wednesday.

"He told her it's a pump," attorney Eileen O'Neill-Burke said as a cluster of burly, snickering police officers watched the court proceedings. "He's standing with his mother. Of course he's not going to shout this out."

But after listening to the female guard testify she heard Amin "clearly" say the word bomb during the Aug. 16 incident at O'Hare Airport, Judge Gerald Winiecki decided there was enough evidence for the case to move forward. Amin, 29, is charged with felony disorderly conduct and faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

Other TSA people report that the man told them at least twice it was a "bomb" and only admitted what it actually was later. Amin told reporters that even though he didn't want his mother to know about it, that he wasn't embarrassed to have it:

"It's normal," he said. "Half of America they use it."

That's not necessarily true. We can only prove one judge uses one. And a guy at an airpport.