Thursday
24 Jul 2008
71-Year Old Amputee Bullied By TSA
By Annie Jacobsen in category Airport Security & Screening
A 71-year old amputee named Robert Perry, en route to Florida to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary, gets his pants pulled down by a power hungry TSO. Do we really pay this agency $5+/- billion dollars a year to behave like this? It's time to read Erich Fromm.
"I have power, I have power, I have power!" screamed the female TSO.
These are the humans that TSA is fast-tracking to become air marshals — and carry semi-automatic weapons on airplanes.
Pam Zekman reports for CBS 2 in Chicago:
In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone
"It's humiliation," Perry said.
Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.
"He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said.
At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.
"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.