TSA makes disabled boy walk through metal detector
While the blind following of bureaucratic legislation has been a check on the pros list of many an airport personnel, the Transportation Security Administration of the United States has had to apologize to a family of three for an employee’s unquestioned devotion to the rule book.
A Camden police officer was instructed by Philadelphia airport security to remove his four-year-old son’s leg braces to pass through the metal detector after it went off the first time round. The boy suffers from malformed ankles and legs with poor muscle tone as a result of being born 16 weeks premature, and relies on the braces to walk. The parents of the child were instructed not to assist the boy through the detector to carry out airport security regulations.
“I told them he can’t walk without them on his own,” said Bob Thomas, father of the child. They told him to take off the braces nonetheless and then prevented the child’s mother from assisting him through the detector when she volunteered to do so.
An upset father complained to the screener who dismissed the complaint by walking away. The supervisor explained to the police officer that the security regulations must be enforced. An upset public have subsequently complained that a child with special needs was not given special treatment, but rather treated like a terrorist.
The TSA has subsequently apologised to the family.
