Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

April 14, 2011

Child's pat-down at airport causes uproar

A member of Congress is 'outraged and disgusted' by the video of a TSA agent frisking a 6-year-old.

The Associated Press

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Kentucky mother said Wednesday that federal airport screeners wouldn't tell her why they were frisking her 6-year-old daughter, whose treatment was captured on a YouTube video that has sparked outrage.

Selena Drexel said her family went through body scanners last month at the New Orleans airport, and her daughter Anna was selected for a pat-down. She asked why but wasn't given a reason.

Drexel told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday that her daughter began to cry after the search and said, "I'm sorry mommy. I don't know what I did wrong." Drexel said her daughter has since moved on and is showing no ill effects from the incident.

Drexel and her husband uploaded the video on YouTube, where it generated huge interest.

Network morning shows picked up the story, and the pat-down was sharply criticized by congressmen involved in national security issues.

The video shows a TSA agent patting down the child and explaining the procedure to the girl and her parents. The screener says that she will use the back of her hands on sensitive areas and will "put my hand in the waistband."

The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that the officer followed proper procedure but that the agency is reviewing its screening policies for "low-risk populations, such as young passengers." The agency is exploring ways to "move beyond a one-size fits all system."

TSA screeners are instructed to use a "modified" pat-down for children 12 and younger, according to the agency's website.

Drexel said she's concerned because she and her husband, Todd, a Bowling Green doctor, have taught their three daughters to be wary of strangers.

"To say it's OK for this group to do it but not OK for this other group, many children are going to have a very difficult time differentiating between who is OK and who is not," she said. "And I believe that this particular pat-down process sets children up to be vulnerable."

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security said he was "personally outraged and disgusted" over the girl's pat-down at Louis Armstrong International Airport.

"This conduct is in clear violation of TSA's explicit policy not to conduct thorough pat-downs on children under the age of 13," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, of Utah, said in a statement Wednesday.

 

Tweet