TSA apologizes for incident with wheelchair-bound child
A video that went viral of the TSA harrasing a wheelchair-bound child and her parents at Missouri’s Lambert-St. Louis International Airport has provoked an apology from the agency.
The TSA now says its agents doled out "inaccurate guidance" to the family who was told they could not film a pat down of their wheelchair-bound 3-year old Lucy when the child was singled out for screening. Lucy’s mother continued to film the child crying when her stuffed animal was taken away. At one point, the child is seen on the video screaming, "I don’t want to go to Disneyworld."
Now, in a public apology, the agency says that the TSA agent in question was wrong and that photography is permitted at checkpoints. Bob Burns in a TSA blog update points out that the child’s stuffed animal was not confiscated and that TSA officials at the airport initially and mistakenly mentioned a pat-down but that the child was not, in fact, subjected to one when a manger on-site clarified the agency’s child security policy.
The parents have accepted the TSA’s apology but they told ABC News that they believe they were singled out because their child was in a wheelchair. They said they believe the TSA needs to train their officers better so that they understand, and don’t misinterpret the agency’s policy.
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