TSA forces travelling policeman to remove his disabled four-year-old son's leg-braces

[ccharles000]

Philadelphia TSA screeners forced the developmentally delayed, four-year-old son of a Camden, PA police officer to remove his leg-braces and wobble through a checkpoint, despite the fact that their procedure calls for such a case to be handled through a swabbing in a private room. When the police officer complained, the supervising TSA screener turned around and walked away. Then a Philadelphia police officer asked what was wrong and "suggested he calm down and enjoy his vacation."

Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday.

The boy is developmentally delayed, one of the effects of being born 16 weeks prematurely. His ankles are malformed and his legs have low muscle tone. In March he was just starting to walk...

The screener told them to take off the boy's braces.

The Thomases were dumbfounded. "I told them he can't walk without them on his own," Bob Thomas said.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/16/tsa-forces-travellin.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

[csziggy]

1. Sometimes I think "jack booted thugs" is over used, but not in this case

I am ashamed of my country when I read about this kind of thing happening here. It reminds me of stories we were told when I was a child - about the Soviet bloc security forces.

[sharesunited]

2. This happened last MARCH. Dredged up now for its Obama Administration mudslinging value.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkbBrITz_yiUxh-QqFYFxfJ70ObwD9DTHCLG1

[frazzled]

3. So, they made my husband's 89-year-old mother in a wheelchair get up

and walk through security, too. This was back in 2002. It happens all the time. It always feels absurd and discriminatory when it happens to you. Because you feel it's ridiculous that a frail, elderly lady or a small developmentally disabled child should be a suspect. And it is pretty absurd. But I suppose the TSA rationale is that this is how a terrorist could effectively get something through ... by using the least probable person.

I've noticed that in some larger airports there are now special security points for disabled and wheelchair bound passengers. It would be nice if special screening could be provided on a regular basis.

[TexasObserver]

4. TSA is a joke that doesn't accomplish anything.

Has TSA ever done anything that made flying safer? No.

They annoy and harass passengers like the mouth breathers they are.