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TSA apologizes for treatment of wheelchair-bound child
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is apologizing for mishandling the inspection of a wheelchair-bound child, but the agency is denying patting down the young passenger.
The agency on Thursday issued a statement in response to a report from ABC News that a disabled three-year-old child was selected for additional screening at a TSA security checkpoint at St. Louis, Mo.’s international airport.
The child’s parents, Nathan Forck and Annie Schulte, said the TSA workers told them that they would have to pat down their daughter, Lucy, and inspect her wheelchair before they could be cleared for their flight from St. Louis to Orlando.
The family also alleged that they were told they could not film the exchange with the TSA agents, which the girl’s mother did anyway.
TSA said Thursday that the information given to the family was incorrect, although the agency maintained the child was not patted down.
“We are committed to maintaining the security of the traveling public and strive to treat all passengers with dignity and respect,” the TSA statement continued. “While no pat-down was performed, we will address specific concerns with our workforce.”
“It bothers me that my daughter was singled out, specifically because she is in a wheelchair,” Forck told ABC.
Schulte told the network that she decided to record the incident with her phone because she decided “something doesn’t seem right” about her daughter’s screening.
“To me it was pretty offensive because I was really tuned in when she said that, immediately I’m like, ‘OK, hold on, something doesn’t seem right,' ” Schulte told ABC News. “So I did tell her I was going to wait because I was going to grab my phone.”
Schulte said she was told it was “illegal” to record TSA security screenings, but she said she told the agency’s employees “I don’t allow anyone to touch my little daughter without being able to record it.”
TSA officials said its regulations do not prohibit passengers from filming airport security screenings as long as the recording does not interfere with the inspection.
