Posted on 12/02/2011 10:34:03 PM PST by GreaterSwiss
says she plans to sue the TSA after a humiliating strip search on Tuesday by agents at JFK Airport.
Lenore Zimmerman, who lives in Long Beach, says she was on her way to a 1 p.m. flight to Fort Lauderdale when security whisked her to a private room and took off her clothes.
“I walk with a walker — I really look like a terrorist,” she said sarcastically. “I’m tiny. I weigh 110 pounds, 107 without clothes, and I was strip-searched.”
TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said a review of closed circuit TV footage from the airport shows “proper procedures were followed.”
But Zimmerman, whose hunched back puts her at 4-foot-11, said her ordeal began after her son, Bruce, drove her to the JetBlue terminal for the Florida flight. She lives in warm Coconut Creek during the winter.
She checked her bags, waited for a wheelchair and parted ways with her doting son — her only immediate relative.
When Zimmerman reached a security checkpoint, she asked if she could forgo the advanced image technology screening equipment, fearing it might interfere with her defibrillator.
She said she normally gets patted down. But this time, she says that two female agents escorted her to a private room and began to remove her clothes.
“I was outraged,” said Zimmerman, a retired receptionist.
As she tried to lift a lightweight walker off her lap, she says, the metal bars banged against her leg and blood trickled from a gash.
“My sock was soaked with blood,” she said. “I was bleeding like a pig.”
She says the TSA agents showed no sympathy, instead pulling down her pants and asking her to raise her arms.
“Why are you doing this?” she said she asked the agents, who did not respond.
The TSA claims the footage does not show any sign of the injury.
“Our screening procedures are conducted in a manner designed to treat all passengers with dignity, respect and courtesy,” Farbstein said.
Zimmerman says a medic arrived to treat her injury. The process took so long that she missed her 1 p.m. flight and had to catch a later one.
Her son said he was shocked when his mom called around 9 p.m. that night and described what happened.
“She was put through a hell of a day,” he said.
Zimmerman, who takes blood thinners, later had a tetanus shot for fear of infection from the walker wound.
Bruce Zimmerman, 53, said he can’t understand why the agents targeted his mom.
“She looks like a sweet, little old lady,” he said. “She’s not a disruptive person or uncooperative.”
nhirshon@nydailyn
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lenore-zimmerman-85-hurt-strip-search-tsa-agents-jfk-airport-article-1.986198#ixzz1fRyYOOwe
Flying is just not worth it anymore.
I think that is the idea.
She was targeted precisely because she WAS NOT A THREAT!!! This is the new reality we are living in. I pray she can sue the crap out of every single government lackey involved in her humiliation.
It’s not even funny any more, but what do you expect when you pay low wages and apply a lot of affirmative action?
Some citizens would expect these trainers to be adequately trained and paid people with the proper temperament. What they get is the unemployment office’s dregs, because that’s all they’re willing to pay for.
This, of course, sounds outrageous until AQ recruits a blue-eyed blond suicide bomber and the hollow walker frame is packed with explosives.
“Flying is just not worth it anymore.”
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Fortunately, I have not had a US flight since Jan 2005, and that was just to get out of the country, Memphis to Amsterdam.
On my several Europe/Asia trips, I have had no problem at all.
I see no difference then the US, 12 years ago.
I went thru a recent physical pat-down on a ferry boat in New York City, when I told the officer I had a defibrillator/pacemaker. He was professional and gently thorough.
Glad to see that they understand the problems people with defibs can face and make proper accomodations to handle the search.
Also glad to see that they had good security on the ferry boats. They don’t want a “Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three” to happen.
TSA should visit New York harbor police and see how to do things right.
Is TSA hoping to bankrupt the airlines? Why?
this is why I’m glad I don’t have to drive....although I would love to visit Ireland....I guess its not in the cards for me unless this country turns around...
“proper procedures were followed.”
Proper in who’s eyes? Obama’s
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I went to Ireland in 1990. Beautiful country. The people are kinda weird, though. Cliquish and abrasive, actually kind of jerks. Like the French.
You might not want to ever leave your house again. The TSA can always come up with an excuse to search you, using the more and more extreme excuses.
Sorry, granny. You are an American, thus a terrorist. Are borders are wide open—but you’re the enemy. Submit and like it.
No. They’re trying to aggravate, intimidate, and accustom Americans to a society stripped of rights.
The Israelis have done a marvelous job of keeping terrorists off their airlines. During the past 50 years, 98% of all terror activity around the globe have been committed by Muslim men between the ages of 15 and 50. The Israelis know this and follow protacols that keep their flying public safe without victimizing everyone else.
Unfortunately, our TSA is compelled to be politically correct, and strip-search 85-year old women in wheel chairs and even going so far as to search toddlers’ diapers.
I predict that when BHO2 is finally out of the White House, TSA will change its draconian behavior.
“this is why I’m glad I don’t have to drive....although I would love to visit Ireland....I guess its not in the cards for me unless this country turns around...”
You mean fly...
You would love Ireland. I always say the folks in Dublin are more American that the folks in NYC. Beautiful country, I’ve been there three times and am dying to go again,
crap—our!
Only towards outsiders :-).
Regards,
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