Your weekly story about abuse by TSA employees: Disabled 4-year-old forced to take off leg braces

[superduperfarleft]

Daniel Rubin: Another case of TSA overkill
By Daniel Rubin
Inquirer Columnist

<<<>>>

Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday.

The boy is developmentally delayed, one of the effects of being born 16 weeks prematurely. His ankles are malformed and his legs have low muscle tone. In March he was just starting to walk.

<<<>>>

The screener told them to take off the boy's braces.

The Thomases were dumbfounded. "I told them he can't walk without them on his own," Bob Thomas said.

"He said, 'He'll need to take them off.' "

Ryan's mother offered to walk him through the detector after they removed the braces, which are custom-made of metal and hardened plastic.

No, the screener replied. The boy had to walk on his own.

<<<>>>

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20100215_Daniel_Rubin__Another_case_of_TSA_overkill.html

My comment: when is something going to be done about this? It seems like almost weekly some dickhead TSA employee abuses someone.

[niyad]

1. tsa=gestapo, and any other group of torturers

[roguevalley]

18. they make my sister remove her leg. she has a prosthetic from her

motorcycle accident.

[endless october]

2. ridiculous.

and unacceptable.

this doesn't make anyone safe.

[niyad]

3. no, but I would guess this power-tripping is how they get their rocks off.

[Fumesucker]

4. Never, the Republicans don't want to and the Democrats are scared to..

Just like the damn drug war that will never end either.

[havocmom]

5. While not generally given to violent outburst,

I could envision myself lurking in shadows with an aluminum baseball bat, waiting to teach that sadist a thing or two about what it is to be unable to walk unassisted.

Ah, fantasy pay back......

[niyad]

6. we can always wish them exactly what they deserve

[Rage for Order]

7. This story is absolutely hilarious!

Or, it would be if it was about Sarah Palin's child. The fact that it was some other disabled child makes me angry.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7718017

[peace13]

8. I would not wish this on any child.

Too sad.

[Tailormyst]

9. Common sense goes out the window.

They need to completely retrain these TSA screeners.

[superconnected]

21. Sorry, but the average well brought up 12 year-old would know better.

This is the quality of people they hire. Most people would not have to be "re-trained" to realize how wrong this is.

[surrealAmerican]

30. How much do you want to bet that the screeners are trained ...

... to never rely on their own judgment, but to follow the rules "to the letter"?

[lpbk2713]

31. Might as well have robots then.

Who knows, robots could be an improvement. :shrug:

[NutmegYankee]

10. I hate to do this, because I hate enhanced screening and the like...

But it's likely that these individuals were just poorly trained on the Standard Operating Procedure. The screeners are constantly tested and obviously get reprimanded if they fail, which creates a lot of pressure in situations like this. "Am I being tested here or is this really a just a disabled child". Part of this is due to the fact that turnover is so high in the TSA. New people are constantly being trained due to the horrible working environment. They cannot unionize, have odd hours, are often only working part-time with shoddy pay and little vacation time.

Sure they enrage me from time to time, but I feel for them as well. That job really does suck!

[KittyWampus]

11. your very good point about high-turnover due to low wages etc shouldn't get lost here on DU

but the knee-jerk response will be too strong to attack the TSA employee who may or may not have been a cruel, unthinking dumbass.

We would be much better off if trained professionals were paid to do the job well.

Thanks for broadening the discussion.

[conscious evolution]

29. better off if trained professionals

We would be better off WITHOUT TSA.
Unless you enjoy living in a police state,that is.

[heli]

12. Stupid sadistic fuckers should be lucky to have a job

[hedgehog]

13. There have been cases in which a mentally disabled person

was wired up as a living bomb and sent through a checkpoint.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/iraq.main/

It makes sense a terrorist is going to try to smuggle a bomb on a plane. What better way to smuggle a weapon than by hiding it in a wheelchair or walker?

The inspection can be handled better, but the inspection makes sense.

[Pithlet]

16. Given that the TSA itself has said this shouldn't have happened

Your comment makes not one lick of sense.

[hedgehog]

17. Sorry, I posted without clicking to the link. My point is that

it makes sense to inspect wheelchairs, braces, walkers etc, but that it can be done with a little bit of common sense and kindness. We are dealing with people who would be perfectly happy to put a bomb in Grandma's wheel chair, but we don't have to tip Grandma out on the floor to make sure there isn't a bomb in her wheel chair.

[CreekDog]

24. they do inspect them

clearly you don't know anything about this stuff.

[CreekDog]

23. 1000% wrong

you never ask someone who walks with the aid of a device to walk without it.

once you do that, you cannot pretend to have done anything in the name of safety.

ridiculous.

that agent endangered that child...i almost wonder if charges are appropriate.

[TheWatcher]

26. If you have to wonder then you need to be more outraged.

CRIMINAL Charges are what is appropriate.

Himmler and Goering would lick their lips in pleasure at what this country is becoming.

[lpbk2713]

14. What a dickhead.

I've often wondered if TSA Screeners must pass an IQ test as a condition of employment.


Now I know.

[DFW]

15. I'd say this rises to the level of "torture"

It is time to prosecute TSA personnel who are guilty of this kind of cruelty. They are protecting no one,
including the reputation of our nation's security apparatus or our reputation worldwide. These power plays
may grant the TSA gorilla a momentary cheap thrill, but the harm the rest of us, and tarnishes the TSA.

If a cop get his rocks off in public by taking away a cripple's crutches and demanding that he walk, the cop
gets fired (usually, anyway). It should be no different with TSA personnel.

[ddeclue]

19. Shaka when the walls fell!

[Hekate]

20. Goddam I hate the TSA. Employees need to be professionalized, unionized, and screened themselves...

They should be civil servants of the government and made to take civil service exams. Full time wages with benefits would help with the high turnover.

Abusiveness and assholery should be a firing offense.

As it stands now they are a disgraceful embarrassment and a continual reminder of the worst excesses of the BushCheney administration's desire to rip our civil liberties from our hands and hearts.

"Achtung! Deine Papieren, bitte!"

Hekate

[CreekDog]

22. Someone's getting fired

Good. :wtf:

Everyone knows that there is an alternative to walking through the metal detectors without any metal on.

It's called "screening".

Ask a TSA employee --just not that doofus.

[TheWatcher]

25. Oh But It's ALL WORTH IT, Don't You See? They're KEEPING US "SAFE."

This is all just tough love we have to endure so that the "Men In Caves"(tm) who will light up the sky with "scrotum bombs", because they "hate our freedom"(tm), will not "Get Us."

We should be willing to PAY ANY PRICE, Suffer ANY INDIGNITY, so that we can "feel safe."(tm)

SO SUCK IT UP AMERICA.

You're "Safe"(tm) .

:sarcasm:

The terrorists can retire now.

We are doing their job even better than they are.

Oh, wait, they already have day jobs.

A lot of them got them by being "elected."

[superduperfarleft]

28. The scariest part for me is that idiot TSA employees like this

are the ones that are supposed to be keeping us safe.

That's right, folks, someone with the brainpower of Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel is responsible for keeping us safe. Sleep well.

[indepat]

27. A caricature of the insanity that has pervaded a culture lacking common sense, reason, sanity,

sensitivity, manners, taste, decorum, humility, decency, and humanity. :P