“I really don’t mind. It makes me feel safer when I travel.”
Posted on 06/26/2011 3:39:10 AM PDT by LibWhacker
A woman has filed a complaint with federal authorities over how her elderly mother was treated at Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend.
Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.
Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.
“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”
Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved.
“The TSA works with passengers to resolve any security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,” she said.
Weber’s mother entered the airport’s security checkpoint in a wheelchair because she was not stable enough to walk through, Weber said.
Wheelchairs trigger certain protocols, including pat-downs and possible swabbing for explosives, Koshetz said.
“During any part of the process, if there is an alarm, then we have to resolve that alarm,” she said.
Weber said she did not know whether her mother had triggered an alarm during the 45 minutes they were detained.
She said her mother was first pulled aside into a glass-partitioned area and patted down. Then she was taken to another room to protect her privacy during a more extensive search, Weber said.
Weber said she sat outside the room during the search.
She said security personnel then came out and told her they would need for her mother to remove her Depends diaper because it was soiled and was impeding their search.
Weber wheeled her mother into a bathroom, removed her diaper and returned. Her mother did not have another clean diaper with her, Weber said.
Weber said she wished there were less invasive search methods for an elderly person who is unable to walk through security gates.
“I don’t understand why they have to put them through that kind of procedure,” she said.
Koshetz said the procedures are the same for everyone to ensure national security.
“TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability,” she said.
Weber filed a complaint through Northwest Florida Regional’s website. She said she received a response from a Homeland Security representative at the airport on Tuesday and spoke to that person on the phone Wednesday.
The representative told her that personnel had followed procedures during the search, Weber said.
“Then I thought, if you’re just following rules and regulations, then the rules and regulations need to be changed,” she said.
Weber said she plans to file additional complaints next week.
“I’m not one to make waves, but dadgummit, this is wrong. People need to know. Next time it could be you.”
So what they are saying here is that they are profiling people in wheel chairs.
“Wheelchairs trigger certain protocols, including pat-downs and possible swabbing for explosives, Koshetz said”
But not Muslims.
I sure am glad I don’t have to fly.
Hmmm.
Everybody but Muslims complain about these invasive searches. I take it to mean they must like getting searched, right?
Such a terrible indignity for a journalist of Ms. Walters' stature.
If she were just your ordinary rapist we'd be saying "Just what possessed that man", but she's a cabinet secretary, and that leaves us saying "just what possessed that man" (Obama).
It's his and Michele's fault.
I think they like hearing about these stories ~ probably have live video feeds from the events ~ just like that crazy guy he put in charge of BATF.
The job of TSA is to find those who would be a threat — obviously we have to fear that a poor 95-year old woman might blow up the airplane... (/sarcasm, of course)
In the meantime Muslim woman are not required to remove their headscarves, so as not to offend them...
Screening has become an exercise in political correctness and has all the weird, holier than thou overtones, such as “we must molest the 95 year olds and 4 year olds just as thoroughly as 20 yr. Old Somali Muslims, just to show we may be damn stupid, but not racists.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
“Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved.”
What a crock! The individuals concerned are blathering to the press. There is no privacy concern on their part.
These people are too f*ing stupid to be given drivers licenses.
By all means, do whatever is necessary to protect us from 95 year old cancer patients in wheelchairs.
The problem is that the 20 yo Somali Muslims are not getting searched. The bulk of those being groped are white elderly or children judging from the horror stories which abound. If that majority was any other group the TSA woudl have already been shut down.
Hey, come on! Those elderly, White, female, terrorists in diapers can pose a heckuva threat...
Lucky for us, the TSA doesn’t bother with young Arab males; they might expend more energy than they have, and then we’d be back to being victimized by those Oldsters in diapers.
The TSA has professional standards to maintain.
Can’t anyone say it? I will: This is insane. This is a different country than the one I grew up in. This is insane.
Welcome to the world of Obama and the complacent society that stands for this sh---.
Remember, Citizens...
nobama hates you, hates your family, hates Free America, hates Americans, hates the Constitution and hates the Bill of Rights. nobama is a hate crime foisted upon America, nobama is the Destroyer.
Everything nobama does is intentional.
God help us all.
EVIL INCARNATE!!!!
Big Sis Napolitano: A National Embarrassment
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.