Thursday, June 9, 2011

X-Rated Security Theatrics

A young woman whose "enhanced" TSA screening veered into the pervy has been compensated (a measly $2,350) for her ordeal:
The 24-year-old plaintiff alleged that at the Corpus Christi airport in May 2008, she was selected for an enhanced pat-down, sufficiently enhanced in her case that the agent pulled her “blouse completely down, exposing Plaintiff’s breasts to everyone in the area.” Her attorney has said that she did not allege this was intentional, but obviously it was at least negligent, and she did allege that TSA employees then “joked and laughed about the incident” to the point that she left the security line for a while. Still hoping to travel to her destination, she later went back to the checkpoint, where a male TSA worker then told her he wished he had been there at the time. “[I'll] just have to watch the video,” he allegedly told her.
The government refused to provide any details of the settlement, but as FindLaw reports, The Smoking Gun was able to get a copy through a FOIA request. As in most settlements, the defendant did not admit any wrongdoing, but a TSA spokesperson said that no agent has been fired or even disciplined as a result of the incident. “We regret that the passenger had an unpleasant experience,” the spokesperson said, using the passive voice, as spokespeople do, to make it sound as if the unpleasant experience just happened.
This may or may not be the first time the TSA has had to pay up, but hopefully it won’t be the last...
TSA--stands for Terribly Sleazy A-holes, right?

1 comment:

Carlos Perera said...

When I was younger and more naive about the human condition, I never thought the American public would ever stand for something like the TSA "enhanced screenings." I would have predicted the fall of any government that insisted that the flying public would have to submit to such indignities . . . and, to add insult to injury, for no real benefit in enhanced security.