TSA Detains 3-year-old in Wheelchair

[Incorruptible]

The TSA detained a 3 year old girl and took away her stuffed doll.

A Missouri couple is furious after the Transportation Security Administration detained their wheelchair-bound three-year-old daughter, took away her stuffed doll, and refused to allow them to videotape agents patting her down.
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“They treated her like a criminal,” said Nathan Forck. “And by extension they were treating us as criminals.”
The TSA did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment.
The incident happened on Feb. 9th at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
Forck and his wife Annie, along with their three children were heading to Disney World for a family vacation. Lucy, their three-year-old, has Spina bifida and is confined to a wheelchair.
The family managed to make it through the TSA checkpoint without any problems. But as they prepared to walk to their gate, a TSA agent pulled aside Lucy for additional screening measures.
“They specifically told me that they were singling her out for this special treatment because she’s in a wheelchair,” he told Fox News. “They are specifically singling out disabled people for this special scrutiny. It’s rather offensive to me as a father of a disabled child.”
The agent said they needed to pat down Lucy and swab her wheelchair – even though both had already gone through the checkpoint.
Forck’s wife started filming the entire episode – over the objections of the TSA agent.
“You can’t do touch my daughter unless I record it,” she can be heard telling the agent.
The agent replied by telling the parents “It is illegal to do that.”
“The problem is, I don’t allow anyone to touch my little daughter,” Annie Forck said.
The Forcks refused to stop filming and soon, the young family was surrounded by TSA agents – one specifically assigned to guard Lucy.
“It’s your worst nightmare,” Forck said. “It’s bad enough they are demanding they want to pat down my child and didn’t want me to videotape it.”
Forck, who is an attorney, said he knew enough about the law to know it was perfectly legal to videotape.
“That set off alarm bells,” he said.
At some point the agents confiscated Lucy’s stuffed toy, “Lamby” – reducing the child to tears.
“She was crying for her stuffed animal which they wouldn’t let her have for the longest time,” he said. “It’s only about a half foot long. It’s a lamb down that talks – but she loves it.”
As TSA agents discussed what they were going to do, the video shows Lucy weeping uncontrollably.
“I don’t want to go Disney World,” she screamed as her parents tried to offer reassurances.
Forck said he could not understand why the TSA was so adamant about not allowing them to film their daughter’s pat-down.
“Just because you slap a TSA badge on – I don’t know this person – and they’re going to be putting their hands on my child,” he said.
He said if someone had done that outside the airport – they would be in jail.
“But you put a TSA badge on and now all of a sudden it’s okay,” he said.
Forck said they were not trying to make a scene at the airport. They only wanted to maintain the dignity of their daughter.
“We were going to stand our ground and state very clearly what they could and could not do to our child,” he said. “It was very disheartening. It broke my heart that Lucy had to go through that on the way to of all places Disney World.”
Forck said he understands that a certain level of security is needed at airports – but he believes what happened in St. Louis was not only inappropriate but may have been illegal.
“We are not unreasonable people,” he said. “But to say you are going to do a bodily search with no probable cause whatsoever – just because she is in a wheelchair – that was offensive.”

Forck and his wife Annie, along with their three children were heading to Disney World for a family vacation. Lucy, their three-year-old, has Spina bifida and is confined to a wheelchair. The family managed to make it through the TSA checkpoint without any problems. But as they prepared to walk to their gate, a TSA agent pulled aside Lucy for additional screening measures.
“They specifically told me that they were singling her out for this special treatment because she’s in a wheelchair,” he told Fox News. “They are specifically singling out disabled people for this special scrutiny. It’s rather offensive to me as a father of a disabled child.”


This is not right that they are targeting disabled people and a 3 year old girl. The TSA also tried to stop the parents from recording everything.



The TSA agents responsible for this need to face major discipline and even be fired for this.


Did the TSA agents go too far? What should happen to them?




http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/tsa-detains-3-year-old-in-wheelchair.html



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3oPloe08a3Q

 

[jackstar7]

Radical Islamists will start using wheelchairs to put bombs everywhere the moment that we start letting them have a pass. I'm sure they'd even use children.

Also, you are a joke.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Radical Islamists will start using wheelchairs to put bombs everywhere the moment that we start letting them have a pass. I'm sure they'd even use children.

Also, you are a joke.

and grandmas, toothpaste, sandwiches, drinks, hair gel, shoes, paint cans, inside your butt....

I mean the list is endless. I think we should not allow people on the plane, they may spontaneously combust! We have to protect the pla.....err....people!

 

[Doppel]

Radical Islamists will start using wheelchairs to put bombs everywhere the moment that we start letting them have a pass. I'm sure they'd even use children.

Also, you are a joke.

Bolded for not sure if serious, but I assume you are.

Nobody expects a wheelchair to get free and clear access but considering zero children have been used to promote terrorist attacks in the US it probably makes sense to give them a wide berth and in practice that is what TSA does.

I guess TSA should start checking my asshole for explosives because hey you never know terrorists may start packing their butts with bombs. It's just not reasonable for us to expect to go on a plane anymore without a thorough cavity search.

This sounds like another abhorrent direction from an official to not film. TSA are always filmed by themselves and should be ok with us doing it too, in public.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Bolded for not sure if serious, but I assume you are.

Nobody expects a wheelchair to get free and clear access but considering zero children have been used to promote terrorist attacks in the US it probably makes sense to give them a wide berth and in practice that is what TSA does.

I guess TSA should start checking my asshole for explosives because hey you never know terrorists may start packing their butts with bombs. It's just not reasonable for us to expect to go on a plane anymore without a thorough cavity search.

I think the point he is making is having any particular group/class of people exempt from screening is not a very sound idea as it would be quite happily exploited.

Or do you disagree with that premise?

 

[Soundmanred]

Just a sensationalist greedy family looking for a free trip to Disney World, hoping The Disney Corporation sees this and gives them just that.
Sick people using their children to further their own goals
/end thread.

 

[Fenixgoon]

I think the point he is making is having any particular group/class of people exempt from screening is not a very sound idea as it would be quite happily exploited.

Or do you disagree with that premise?

children under 12 and seniors over 75 already get a pass to some degree IIRC. so why don't we see them blowing the shit out of planes?

 

[Newbian]

I am still trying to figure out why the parents wanted to record this to begin with.

They make it sound like the only reason they are upset is they were not allowed to record the people doing their job.

 

[cubby1223]

Mexican drug cartels absolutely take advantage of all this in attempts to pass drugs across the border into this country. School bus of children with text books hollowed out filled with marijuana. Crippled elderly women with cocaine strapped around their bellies.

You can come up with whatever stats you can why terrorists are not targeting planes, but the fact is if a group did target a plane, they would use whatever delivery method they believe gives them the best chance of success.

 

[waggy]

i watched that video.

while i hate TSA and the fact they thought they had to search a child in a wheelchair blows my mind.

Saying that the mother is a stupid bitch. she caused more stress on the child then the TSA would have.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

These parents were acting like morons. If they had just acted normally and cooperated this would have taken just a few minutes and they would have been on their way. Instead they insisted on recording the incident and arguing with the TSA, leading to, according to the video, "a very long twenty minutes" of discussions with TSA. They needlessly made this incident much harder on their own daughter. Nothing in that video in any way suggests that the TSA officers "want to touch" their daughter in any inappropriate way, and in fact it contradicts that proposition.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Wheelchairs are not taken into the cabin and left there during flight.
A personal wheelchair is gate checked after the passenger has been placed into a front row seat.

The family was detained due to the actions of the parents; not because of a 3 yr old in a wheelchair.

 

[Ausm]

Radical Islamists will start using wheelchairs to put bombs everywhere the moment that we start letting them have a pass. I'm sure they'd even use children.

Also, you are a joke.

I would go one step further and say that possible a Radical extremist group kidnapped Incorruptible from his underground Bunker, rammed a dirty bomb suppository up his ass then gave him a plane ticket.

 

[PokerGuy]

Mexican drug cartels absolutely take advantage of all this in attempts to pass drugs across the border into this country. School bus of children with text books hollowed out filled with marijuana. Crippled elderly women with cocaine strapped around their bellies.

You can come up with whatever stats you can why terrorists are not targeting planes, but the fact is if a group did target a plane, they would use whatever delivery method they believe gives them the best chance of success.

I don't think anyone is arguing that the little girl in her wheelchair should not be subject to screening. In fact, she went through security screening just fine. The TSA wanted to do additional screening, which in and of itself is not that big a deal either, but the way they went about it is absolutely horrid, and the fact that they want to not be filmed while doing it confirms in my mind that they were acting like scum. It's the same as cops who want laws on the books to prevent you from filming them in public -- good cops don't have a problem with anyone filming their actions, only bad ones do.

You have to be aware of the situation and the people you're dealing with. I'm certain they could have handled the situation with the 3 year old a whole lot better. The idiots that pulled this should be fired.

 

[jackstar7]

Bolded for not sure if serious, but I assume you are.

I posted in an Incorruptible thread, sir... I am most definitely... not at all serious.

 

[PokerGuy]

These parents were acting like morons. If they had just acted normally and cooperated this would have taken just a few minutes and they would have been on their way. Instead they insisted on recording the incident and arguing with the TSA, leading to, according to the video, "a very long twenty minutes" of discussions with TSA. They needlessly made this incident much harder on their own daughter. Nothing in that video in any way suggests that the TSA officers "want to touch" their daughter in any inappropriate way, and in fact it contradicts that proposition.

If the TSA agents weren't doing anything wrong, then they should have no problem with being filmed doing it. My guess is they were being jerks about it, and then got more huffy when the parents were filming it. There's no reason to have to take a comfort item like a little doll away from a 3 year old in an obviously stressful situation. The doll they took away from the child had already been screened so it wasn't a thread.

Looks to me like typical TSA jerks in action. I don't know if the parents were being jerks as well, but a parent being somewhat overprotective of a disabled (and scared) 3 year old is perfectly understandable.

 

[Darwin333]

Wow, I am posting in an incorruptable thread and I am agreeing with him.

Personally I would be in jail for at the very least making threats because as he told me he was going to put his hands on my 3 year old daughter (disabled or not) I would be telling him exactly how I am going to put my hands on him should he attempt to do what he said. If he didn't heed my warning I would have done my level best to break bones.

Then the "its illegal to videotape" bullshit, I blame that one on the parents.

Forck, who is an attorney, said he knew enough about the law to know it was perfectly legal to videotape.

The TSA (and LEO in general) get away with bullshit like that precisely because the people they deal with don't know the law or allow themselves to be intimidated. This guy KNEW the law but still allowed himself to be intimidated into turning the camera off. If everyone said "fuck you, there is no law that says I can't record so I am not going to stop" they wouldn't be able to get away with it. The cowards just didn't want their faces on the local news.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Wow, I am posting in an incorruptable thread and I am agreeing with him.

Personally I would be in jail for at the very least making threats because as he told me he was going to put his hands on my 3 year old daughter (disabled or not) I would be telling him exactly how I am going to put my hands on him should he attempt to do what he said. If he didn't heed my warning I would have done my level best to break bones.

Then the "its illegal to videotape" bullshit, I blame that one on the parents.

The TSA (and LEO in general) get away with bullshit like that precisely because the people they deal with don't know the law or allow themselves to be intimidated. This guy KNEW the law but still allowed himself to be intimidated into turning the camera off. If everyone said "fuck you, there is no law that says I can't record so I am not going to stop" they wouldn't be able to get away with it. The cowards just didn't want their faces on the local news.

If you did this, you would richly deserve the punishment that followed, not only because you'd committed a crime but because you would be subjecting your kids to a lot of totally unnecessary stress. Here, the brief patdown was performed by a female in the parents' presence in a public and well-lit location - it's not as though she was dragged into a darkened room by a dirty old man.

 

[nehalem256]

If we don't treat 3 year olds in wheel chairs the same as anyone else the TSA could be accused of profiling.

And we know that is unacceptable.

 

[DCal430]

Fact is the parents are correct about the video recording, was TSA was violating multiple laws by refusing to allow them to record. The courts have ruled many times people have a right to record public employees doing their job, this include law enforcement and the TSA.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Fact is the parents are correct about the video recording, was TSA was violating multiple laws by refusing to allow them to record. The courts have ruled many times people have a right to record public employees doing their job, this include law enforcement and the TSA.

Go try to take photographs or videos in immigrations/customs areas in an airport and see how fast you're arrested for violating federal law. This law is explained to all passengers arriving in the US. I will bet that the same law covers TSA operations in the airport as well.

 

[DCal430]

Go try to take photographs or videos in immigrations/customs areas in an airport and see how fast you're arrested for violating federal law. This law is explained to all passengers arriving in the US. I will bet that the same law covers TSA operations in the airport as well.

You are wrong, both the TSA own site as well as the courts have ruled as long as sensitive information isn't being recorded, you must be allow to re word.

 

[Theb]

These parents were acting like morons. If they had just acted normally and cooperated this would have taken just a few minutes and they would have been on their way. Instead they insisted on recording the incident and arguing with the TSA, leading to, according to the video, "a very long twenty minutes" of discussions with TSA. They needlessly made this incident much harder on their own daughter. Nothing in that video in any way suggests that the TSA officers "want to touch" their daughter in any inappropriate way, and in fact it contradicts that proposition.

The parents could've handled it better, but the TSA could've handled it much better. Lying about whether or not something is legal should be the end of someone's job.

 

[DrPizza]

These parents were acting like morons. If they had just acted normally and cooperated this would have taken just a few minutes and they would have been on their way. Instead they insisted on recording the incident and arguing with the TSA, leading to, according to the video, "a very long twenty minutes" of discussions with TSA. They needlessly made this incident much harder on their own daughter. Nothing in that video in any way suggests that the TSA officers "want to touch" their daughter in any inappropriate way, and in fact it contradicts that proposition.

I agree with you in part, but parents have the right to record what the TSA was doing. The TSA should not retaliate against anyone for exercising their rights. I haven't looked at the video, but it sounds like those TSA agents were imcompetent (didn't understand that the recording was allowed) and vindictive.

So, had the TSA agents simply patted down the 3 year old while they were being recorded, this wouldn't have been an incident either. I'm surprised you would blame this on people exercising their rights, rather than an unreasonable reaction by the TSA to those people exercising their rights.

 

[HumblePie]

Meh.

Don't like the way TSA handles security? Then charter out or find some other way to make the trip like driving or by bus.

Already airlines are feeling the pinch of less flyers. The less that fly and state the reasons being this screwed up way TSA handles security then the faster proper changes to the TSA will be made.