Jennifer Williamson posted a video on Facebook Sunday morning that shows her son, Aaron, being patted down by a TSA agent. You can see the agent speak to the boy, then begin to pat down his back side, before moving to the front.
Williamson writes that Aaron was kept for over an hour while he was checked out. She had asked agents to screen him in "other ways" because he has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).
"He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine. He is still several hours later saying 'I don't know what I did. What did I do?'" Williamson writes.
She adds that two DFW Airport police officers also joined the pat down at one point.
"Somehow these power tripping TSA agents who are traumatizing children and doing whatever they feel like without any cause, need to be reined in," she says.
As of 1 p.m. Monday, the Facebook post had more than 17,300 shares.
7 Comments
articianEveryone should be livid over this, not just when it happens to a child.
ChaosEngineOk, let me start by saying I have a pretty low opinion of the whole "security theatre" at airports, etc.
That said, I've always thought that "pat-downs" are friggin' pointless unless you're going to do the whole body.
I've had the occasional search myself while travelling and it's almost always completely perfunctory. If I was actually carrying a weapon or some mythical "dangerous liquid", I could easily have stashed it in my crotch or my shoes.
Basically, either you actually do a body search (including genital area), or just admit the whole thing is fucking bullshit and let us on our way.
Phreezdryd*blocked in Canada. There's so many alternative videos on YouTube now, as this child groping incident goes viral, maybe I'll leave it up to @Mordhaus to throw a dart and choose one.
How about CBS New York: https://youtu.be/Jlpi7_xnzWQ
siftbotThis video has been flagged as having an embed that is Region Blocked to not function in certain geographical locations - declared blocked by Phreezdryd.
newtboyYou are not a special unique snowflake. Had you listened to instructions and removed the computer from the bag, you wouldn't have been flagged for further inspection, probably. If normal pat downs cause your child trauma....don't make them fly because it's likely they'll have one, and don't complain about it when they do. I would bet that 30/45 minutes was spent dealing with the irate mother, because we just saw the patdown take around 2 minutes.
I did this this morning, I was "selected" for extra screening (like every time I fly, maybe because I'm bald), it took 2 minutes because I didn't make a fuss about it and interfere with them performing their duties.
Flying is a privilege, not a right, and there are rules and procedures you must follow. They didn't.
newtboyNow reported, his laptop set off the explosives sensor. If you don't want people that trip that sensor checked again for <2 minutes, you're naive. (also reported the remaining 43 minutes was spent dealing with the mother, with the two officers coming over and holding them because she was irate and making a scene at the checkpoint, harassing the tsa worker. They also rescanned their bags during the pat down).
All this over a 2 minute patdown after they ignored instructions AND set off alarms. WTF people...please don't support this.
Side note, it's totally inappropriate that he was flying barefoot too, they should have been refused entry to the airport for that alone, it's a liability issue.
siftbotMoving this video to Mordhaus's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.
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