Woman claims she was sexually assaulted in filmed reaction to TSA pat-down

A video by a passenger at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix of his mother's reaction to being patted down by the Transportation Security Administration has led to a review of whether filming and taking pictures of such events is a constitutional right.

On May 28, a female passenger in Phoenix reacted angrily to being patted down by TSA officers at the airport security checkpoint, claiming she was sexually assaulted during the search. TSA has defended the legality of the pat-down, but the woman's son recorded her reaction, over the objections of the TSA officers, and uploaded it to YouTube.

"I think he molested me," the woman says in the clip. "I want a police officer now. Now, I want a police officer ... For God's sake, somebody help me."

"I'm going to need you to leave," a TSA agent is heard in the video telling the woman's son. "Are you going through the screening process?"

"You are not allowed to film," another agent says in the video.

TSA said last week on its blog that while it "takes all allegations of improper screening seriously and investigates each claim to the fullest," the woman was not sexually assaulted.

"After reviewing this passenger’s time at the checkpoint, we found that our security officers acted properly and neither the CCTV footage nor this YouTube video support any of the allegations levied," the TSA blog said. "Real violations of our protocols are worth every ounce of our energy to investigate, but this alleged incident does not meet that threshold."

TSA said in its original blog post it was reviewing whether passengers were allowed to film at security checkpoints.

The agency revisited the topic this week, updating the post Thursday evening to say "we recognize that using video and photography equipment is a constitutionally protected activity unless it interferes with the screening process at our checkpoints."

"While our current policy remains the same, TSA is reviewing our guidance to officers at the checkpoint to ensure consistent application," the blog update said. "Our goal is to protect passenger's [sic] rights, while safeguarding the integrity of the security process."