Apr 24, 2012
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A Montana lawmaker is furious after the four year old daughter of one of his constituents was labeled a “high security threat” when the child hugged her grandmother at a security checkpoint at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
Michelle Brademeyer, of Missoula, Mon., wrote about the incident on her Facebook page alleging TSA officers called for backup after her daughter would not stop crying and at one point was ordered to spread her legs.
Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) told Fox News that he is outraged over the four-year-old’s treatment.
“Something is clearly very wrong if TSA’s protocol forced them to harass a four-year-old girl until she cried,” Rehberg said. “I intend to sit down with the TSA immediately and demand some answers.”
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The TSA confirmed to Fox News that an incident occurred at the airport — but defended the way their officers handled the situation.
“TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper current screening procedures in conducting a modified pat-down on the child,” said Sterling Payne, of the TSA Office of Public Affairs.
The Brademeyer family’s ordeal began at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport after they had cleared a security checkpoint. Brademeyer’s mother, who happened to be traveling out of the same airport, set off an alarm and had to be re-screened.
photo from Michelle Brademeyer's Facebook page
Brademeyer’s four year old child was so excited to see her grandmother that she ran over to give her a brief hug. At that point, a TSA officer began yelling at the child and demanded she sit down and undergo a full body pat-down.
“It was implied, several times, that my mother, in their brief two-second embrace, had passed a handgun to my daughter,” Brademeyer wrote on her Facebook page.
She said her daughter was terrified.
“They told her she had to come to them, alone, and spread her arms and legs,” Brademeyer wrote, noting that her daughter began screaming “No, I don’t want to.”
“That is when a TSO told me they would shut down the entire airport, cancel all flights, if my daughter was not restrained,” she wrote. “It was then they declared my daughter a ‘high-security threat.’”
Brademeyer said she tried to pick up her daughter and comfort her but the TSA ordered her to stop. They were eventually escorted to a private room where she said her daughter was treated like a terrorist.
“I will never forget the look of pure terror on her face,” she said. “A TSO began repeating that in the past she had ‘seen a gun in a teddy bear.’ The TSO seemed utterly convinced my child was concealing a weapon, as if there was no question about it.”
However, the TSA disputes Brademeyer’s claim that officers thought her child had a gun.
“TSA officers did not suspect or suggest the child was carrying a firearm,” Sterling said in his statement to Fox News.
At some point her daughter started crying again and that enraged TSA officers, she said. They ordered her to stop weeping and when she refused, the TSA called for backup.
“Two TSOs called for backup saying, ‘The suspect is not cooperating.’ the suspect, of course, being a frightened child. They treated my daughter no better than if she had been a terrorist.”
Eventually, a manager intervened and determined the child could be cleared through security after the harrowing ordeal.
“My daughter is very shaken up about this, and has been waking up with nightmares,” Brademeyer wrote. “What should have been a very minor, routine security check was turned into a horrific ordeal. All of this could easily have been prevented if the TSO involved had used a little bit of compassion and a smidgen of common sense. There is no reason for any child to go through this.
“And while I completely understand the necessity of tight airport security, I fail to see how harassing a small child will provide safety for anyone,” she wrote.
Rehberg blamed the debacle on the Obama Administration, saying they have “ignored common sense in favor of mind-boggling bureaucratic rules.”
“Common sense tells you there’s a way to protect air travelers without harassing and scaring them,” he said.
But he TSA remains steadfast that they did absolutely nothing wrong.
“TSA has recently implemented modified screening procedures of children 12 and under that will further reduce the need for a physical pat-down for children,” Sterling said. “These new screening procedures include permitting multiple passes through the metal detector and advanced imaging technology to clear any alarms as well as the greater use of explosives trace detection. These changes in protocol will ultimately reduce – though not eliminate – pat downs of children.”
“In this case, however, the child had completed screening but had contact with another member of her family had not completed the screening process,” he added.
You can read her entire posting of the encounter by clicking here.
FOX News Talk
I'am guessing Obama must aprove of this even with 2 daughters of his own, this is the worst thing I've seen in my 46yrs, an innocent 4yr old little girl running to her grandma what good AMERICAN kid wouldn't run to her grandma……. Come on Obama do something finally it's your TSA admin……..
And I have to deal with these idiots regularly!
heard bout that on the news yesterday, pissed me off… pretty sad when a small child is searched like a criminal, just cuz she ran up to her grandma..
TSA: Total Sexual Assault force. Politically correct, devoid of common sense, and totally inept. Won't profile for Muslim Islamofascists as they should. Instead targets granny ladies and very small children as terrorist suspects. TSA: Another quality division of your New American Police State.
This is just proof that the terrorists did win the war against us. They have succeeded in turning our own government against the people.
A government out of Control.
ATF….fast and furious in Mexico…arming the cartels.
Secret Service….Prositutes in Columbia…
TSA….Nuff said
This has been one heck of a hot topic. I find myself returning every day.
I am a retired prison guard, and I've done my share of pat-downs and strip-searches ("grandpa what did you used to do?" "I was the nuts and butts guy at Shawshank, Billy. Sacks & cracks, that's me"). Yes, there is a way to do these things in as respectful and low-key a manner as possible, or at the very least, an impersonal, low-key manner.
While the vast majority of my co-workers felt more-or-less as I did, I've also seen quite a lot of 'impersonal' treatment by SOME of my co-workers that I considered to be… somewhat less than impersonal. I've heard it all when it comes to spin and excuses for ill-treatment.
I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. And I DAMN sure don't like it as applied to (presumed) innocents.
SOME of these TSA people (not all, I would hazard a guess) are acting exactly the same way as some of the neanderthalic goons that I tried very hard to dissociate myself from during my career. Schoolyard bullies should grow up before joining any work force.
The last flight I took I was pulled aside, because my feet were sweating when I walked thru the scan, they tested my shoes for explosive residue. Not as bad as some, but still embarrassing…everyone stared as they went by.
Julie Yatalese Bramel If they pulled me aside for sweaty feet, they wouldn't be able to get close enough to frisk me…
David Yatalese HAHAHA! Don't I know it!
Woa… Deja' vue
I think it is very interesting to see some of these comments. Note that most of comments are not just critical of the TSA but ANGRY critical of the TSA. The TSA has done nothing to gain public support for their actions. This is a very bad thing for them since they should be trying to get the support of the public who actually hate them. I hear these terrible stories all the time. Would it have been so hard for the TSA to have treated this child in a gentler way? Is it better to have all these outraged people thinking that the whole organization and particularly its chief be eliminated for lack of judgment? We all want good security and we are happy when we get it. But to be abused at an airport by an individual who has an IQ that does not exceed his or her pulse rate? I was once told to get to the back of the line at an airport because I did not open my computer fast enough. Is that security or a moron who is on a power trip? His supervisor came running over to tell me that he has had a hard day and that is why he is acting that way. These posts should go to the chief of the TSA and fast. That is the only way to get change……..let them know. Write to congressmen and women. Make them change their stupid ways.
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You can say that again.
Face it, the terrorists have already won. They have caused our own government to carry out the act of terrorizing the people in their stead.
What do you expect from an agency that should truthfully be called Touch, Stroke, Assault?