TSA Causes Controversy With Patting Down Six-Year-Old (VIDEO)
The Transportation Security Administration is under fire after a YouTube video surfaced of one of the company's officers patting down a six-year-old.
The video shows TSA patting down the six year old daughter of a Kentucky couple in her private areas at a New Orleans airport. Selena and Todd Drexel said the excessive frisking of their daughter Anna was unnecessary and TSA needs to change the way it frisks children.
In the video on YouTube (see below), the TSA officer is explaining the process to the little girl. She tells Anna she will use the back of her hands on sensitive areas and will put my hand in the waistband.
The video was uploaded April 12 and already it has 320,000 views.
The Drexels told ABC's Good Morning America that his daughter was confused and began to cry after she was frisked by TSA. They said it was inappropriate for their daughter to be touched like that and posted the video because they had a very bad feeling that what happened was wrong.
Under the video description part, the Drexels sarcastically wrote, Watch out, she may look like a 6 year old child but shes actually high on crack with a bomb in her pocket.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, agrees with the Drexels and said TSA violated their own policy.
I am personally outraged and disgusted by yet another example of mistreatment of an innocent American at the hands of TSA, wrote Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. This conduct is in clear violation of TSA's explicit policy not to conduct thorough pat-downs on children under the age of 13.
The past 12 months haven't exactly been the best for TSA. The organization introduced full-body scanners this past year and drew a wide array of criticism from the media, travelers and privacy advocates. The reaosning behind pat-downs has also come into question.
TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that this officer followed proper current screening procedures. However, in line with his vision to accelerate TSA's evolution into a truly risk-based, intelligence-driven organization, Administrator (John S.) Pistole has tasked the agency with exploring additional ways to focus its resources and move beyond a one-size fits all system while maintaining a high level of security. a TSA spokesperson said in a statement.
Here's the video:
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