TSA detained a 12-year-old wheelchair-bound girl for nearly an hour
at the DFW International Airport after they found explosive residue on
her hands. TSA left the mortified girl in tears, but refused to let her
mother get close enough to comfort her.
Shelbi Walser was traveling to Florida with her mother, Tammy
Daniels, to receive treatment for a bone disorder that keeps her in a
wheelchair. The 12-year-old girl is forced to make this trip every 4-6
months for treatment and never had any problems with the Transportation
Security Administration before.
But while going through security
at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last week, TSA swabbed the
girl’s hands and found that she tested positive for explosive residue.
Walser was detained for nearly an hour in front of hundreds of
travelers, while TSA called in a bomb specialist.
“There were
people saying, ‘Really? You’re going to do this to her? Y’all have to
take her somewhere private where she’s not out in the public and
everyone can see her,’” the girl’s mother told Fox.
Daniels
believes the agents lacked common sense in their treatment of this
incident. Wheelchairs pick up dirt, residue and anything they roll
through. The 12-year-old girl rolled her own wheelchair, making it
possible for her to pick up residue from the wheels.
But TSA never
tested the girl’s wheelchair to see if this might have been the case.
The bomb specialist and the agents began talking on their cell phones,
while other airport passengers watched in disbelief as the crying girl
continued to be detained.
“Through all of this, no common sense ever kicked in. No one ever tested her wheelchair,” Daniels told CBS.
“If it was all about safety, why didn’t they remove her from her wheelchair and start testing the seat?”
While
the distraught girl was crying, TSA refused to let her mother get close
enough to comfort her. Daniels says she never lost her temper and was
respectful at all times, but a TSA agent made a call and referred to her
as being “aggressive”.
The girl said she was afraid the TSA agents would take her away from her mother.
After
the hour-long detainment TSA agents suddenly told Daniels and her
daughter that they were free to leave, without offering any sort of
explanation about the incident.
“It was a little much. I don’t
know what to learn from this one. Somebody, they need to go back to the
drawing board on this one,” Daniels said.
After reporters
contacted TSA, the agency refused to discuss the incident and simply
provided a general statement about TSA’s mission.
“[We] will address any alleged issued directly with the passenger and not through the news media,” TSA wrote in a statement to CBS News.
But
this isn’t the first time the agency took their screening procedures
too far with wheelchair-bound children. Earlier this year, a YouTube
video was released showing a TSA agent giving a pat-down to a 3-year-old
boy who was wearing a body cast and bound to a wheelchair, while
letting the boy’s family continue through security. The boy was on his
way to Disney World but was detained by TSA on the way. With a look of
terror on his face, he was subjected to a screening that outraged many
of the
video’s viewers and caused it to go viral.
In
2011, two other wheelchair users were forced out of their wheelchairs
and allegedly groped by agents at the Greater Rochester International
Airport. That same year, a six-year-old girl also received an intense
patdown at the New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport,
prompting Rep. Jason Chaffetz to introduce legislation prohibiting
patdown searches of minors without parental consent.
Despite
constant complaints against TSA agents for their treatment of children
and wheelchair-bound passengers, new incidents are constantly arising as
passengers contact the news media about inappropriate treatment.
The explosives residue was most likely from her nail polish.
Purple Heart Adventures: Trophy Whitetails for Wounded Warriors
Dear God & Country Lovers, January 13-17 I
will have the privilege of hosting, along with singer/songwriter Rod
Williams and my daughter Regis Giles of GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com, four
Purple Heart recipients for a trophy ... READ MORE
