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The OP was not acting irrate or irrational or non compliant--he was acting like he was irritated and in pain. There is a difference and if the TSA agents can't tell the difference perhaps they need to be in a different position.

The pat down you described is called a Terry stop--and by law it must be minimal. The TSA used to do these sort of pat downs. I got one of those and while I found it most irritating they at least did not put their hands in my privates or in my pants. A police officer would also not require an elderly woman in a wheelchair to take off her depends in a terry-stop. Even the TSA says that their pat downs go beyond what a police officer would normally do in a terry-stop. Additionally you don't get pulled out of a crowd of people at a mall and are frisked by a police officer for nothing, usually you have been involved or are around a crime. That is not the case with people at airports. A police officer is not permitted to strip search just anyone anywhere, yet the TSA is allowed to do so with their scanners. So I don't think that these guys are living by the same rules as law enforcement so they do not get the same respect I give to those who actually do real law enforcement work.

"The price of flying right now" Actually it has been the price of flying for less than a year. It is because people say "don't like it don't fly" that the injustices at the airports continue unabated. "Just doing what I am told" hmmmm I remember somewhere that excuse not holding water when what you are "told" to do is a crime (and yes touching people's private areas without probable cause is a crime). As for it just being at the airports--well don't look now but they are coming to a bus station/metro near you soon (have already done that!).

Gr8_Outdoorsman wrote:


I dont' fault anyone for not wanting to be "the one" to get randomly screened. I fly routinely and I get to be "the one" my fair share of the time. I'm polite and oblige by their requests. Everything has always gone smoothly.

The OP is completely to blame for being scrutinized to the level that they were. It is no different than someone being nervous, rude or resistant to any other law enforcement officer. It's just not a wise thing to do because it will draw more scrutiny to you. There are red flags all over the original post that would have caused the agent to have raised suspicions. I would guarantee that the entire process would have gone much quicker and smoothly if the OP would have been more calm.

Guys, I spent four years in the Middle East. If you think that every potential terrorist is going to have a similar appearance, you are sorely mistaken. They often have many of the same features as any other American (white, black, tan, etc...). Reading some of these posts, it looks like they are suggesting that we should only additionally screen the obvious looking Arab men.

The TSA is considered law enforcement officers?--then why don't they act like it.

These guys (the TSA) seem to think that they fall outside the rules and regulations that bind a law-enforcement officer. When was the last time you heard of a police officer pulling over a car, for no reason whatsoever, demanding the citizens get out and subjecting them and their whole family to "rigorous pat downs" that include putting fingers inside of their children's pant lines. You don't hear of that--why? Because if an officer tried that he would be the one facing charges. The closest thing we have to that is a drunk driving sting where everyone stops and they look at your license and your eyes and if they think something is off they make you take a breathalyzer test--no touching of the citizen allowed unless they are under arrest. Recently an officer arrested a woman filming the police from her front yard--what was the result of that--the charges are dropped and now the officer and the police department are facing civil suits. How many times have we heard the TSA wrongly claim "you can't film here.

The TSA are committing what would be in any other encounter considered a sexual assault and we are supposed to be polite and play nice nice? You may be ok with them touching your private areas (which btw makes you no safer whatsoever) but I and many others are not.

As for Islamic/not Islamic pat downs. How about the TSA keep their fingers off of everyone to start with and ask everyone a few key questions and then if more scrutiny is needed move on to other screening methods (bag examination/shoe removal with a rigorous pat down only occurring if there is at minimum a quantifiable reasonable suspicion that this person (not a hypothetical person some where out there) but this person standing in front of them is attempting to conceal something on their body. But wait that would make sense, and would not humiliate the majority of the flying public.

Kythas wrote:
No. They merely asked me if my confrontation with the TSA agent had become physical at any point. When I told them it hadn't, they said I could go.

You could have said--"well he kept me a disabled person standing in pain for X amount of minutes during which time I informed him that I was in pain and during the pat-down he touched my private areas so one could say he was quite physical with me. I, however, did not put my hands on him."

lkd wrote:

philip964 wrote:A better tact for you rather than to ask the TSA agent to hurry up, would be to say "I am disabled, can someone get a chair for me to sit in" (this tact would also work better with a custom's agent too)

This would absolutely have nailed it on the head. I'm sure the TSA gets LOTS of people that tell them to hurry up. Some for legitimate reasons, like yourself, but I've seen WAY too many self-important people try to bully the TSA (and prior to TSA - hired security) when they're in a hurry. Security people immediately take this as a clue that you would want them to concede to your demands because you have something you don't want them to discover.

If you're late for a plane, tell the TSA people if they can contact the gate agent to help you.
If you're disabled/hurt, let them know that you need accommodations.
If you have your hands full with small children, ask if there's a place you can stand aside with your kids while they conduct their business.

Suggesting/Demanding that they not do their job is going to get you introduced to the term "malicious compliance."

You seem to have alot of hope that the TSA will help you. The last time I flew with small children the TSA went out of their way to make my life more difficult (pre-groping season), they got all interested in my hat--it is a cowboy hat and it has a metal piece on the front--I put it through the conveyor belt and so it and all my carry on's had to be checked and the were what I call less than helpful. Even when I asked for something as reasonable as can we do this on the side so I can keep my kids with me. My three year old and one year old were wandering around the area and I was not permitted to get them, I luckily called out to my sister who was ahead of me to come back and get the kids (earning more growling and slowness from the TSA). What was I supposed to do let my 3 year old wander down the terminal? What if my sister had not been there and it was just me? Nope I have had far too many experiences with the TSA to be under any impression that they wish to help me in the least, they wish to do their job in such a way as to show everyone there just who is the boss.

b322da wrote:Just to show that this group is not unanimous here, if I were a TSA agent with the statutory auhority this person no doubt had, and a passenger approached me with the attitude you have admitted to, I would have done exactly the same thing as was done to you. No question in my mind about this. You would not have gotten on that airplane without a thorough inspection and clearance by an LEO, and perhaps not in any event. The attitude you demonstrated had undoubtedly been a part of his training. You fit the classic picture of a potential serious problem, and in my opinion he did his duty.

Lots of luck with any appeal.

Elmo

Perhaps you can enlighten me...a gentleman with leg problems fits the description of a terrorist? As I understand it the TSA's job is to keep dangerous people and items off planes--not to ferret out those of us that do not submit well to their current polices and make our lives miserable when we have no other option but to use air travel. "A potential serious problem" is not the gentleman that can't stand for long periods of time and requests due to discomfort that the TSA expedite their procedure, nor is it the mentally disabled man with a toy hammer. If the officials in the TSA can't see that perhaps they need to revisit their training.

XtremeDuty.45 wrote:At the very least contact TSA and make a formal complaint against him.

If you have the time and means to pursue a claim against the TSA I would say go for it. If they were held accountable for their doings they might be a little more careful on how they treat people. Even the police are not above the law (can't detain you without some reason to do so). I am not a lawyer of course, but if it were me I might go and talk to one and see if anything can be done.