TSA forces woman with ‘cute figure’ to pass though nude body scanner 3 times
posted at 2:39 pm on February 14, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
What do TSA checkpoint screeners have in common with movie directors? They can both insist on multiple takes until the “actor” gets the scene right.
That is what Ellen Terrell, a wife and mother, fears was at the root of her disquieting experience in the hands of TSA agents several months ago at Dallas Fort Worth Airport. As Terrell and her husband approached the security checkpoint, a female agent asked her if she played tennis. Terrell was taken aback at the question and asked why the agent wanted to know. The reply: “You just have such a cute figure.”
Terrell was singled out for a “random” body scan. But her curiosity mounted when she was asked to pass through the nude scanner not once, not twice, but three times. After the third pass, she heard the agent say into a microphone to co-workers who were not visible, “Guys, it is not blurry, I’m letting her go. Come on out.”
Terrell and her husband are convinced that the extra screenings were unnecessary, possibly even voyeuristic. Texas State Representative Lon Burnam of Fort Worth is inclined to agree. He told CBS 11 News in Dallas, “I think it’s sexual harassment if you’re run through there a third or fourth time. And this is not the first time I have heard about it,” he said, noting that a number of his constituents had voiced similar concerns about privacy.
CBS reports having pored through 500 records of TSA complaints and believes it has identified a pattern, but the TSA insists the searches are purely randomized.
Curiously, several weeks after this story broke, the TSA held a news conference in which the agency revealed that all-new scanners had been installed at DFW and Love Field that show only a generic-body outline.
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It’s a shame that the “Republicans” don’t have the guts to start eliminating this agency. But I guess putting the words “Republicans” and “guts” in the same sentence is silly.
The Democrats built this jobs program. It was clear from Jane Harmon’s statements and press releases, what this was going to be.
You don’t have to be a spineless drooling moron to be in Congress but is sure seems to help.
CrazyGene on February 14, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Reason #5M not to fly. Did this tsa gal keep an image of Terrell for her future viewing?
L
letget on February 14, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Still 100%!
Marcola on February 14, 2012 at 3:37 PM
Apparently TSA is hiring lots of frat boys fresh out of college – likely with liberal arts degrees and no other job prospects. Do these guys not know what kind of free web sites you can easily get to on the internet?
dentarthurdent on February 14, 2012 at 3:56 PM
Other than the peeps what’s really disquieting is if she had said you’re all a bunch of perverts she would have been thrown down, handcuffed, strip searched and jailed.
Except afterwards exchange strip searched and jailed for raped and stoned, what difference is there? Comply or suffer harsh penalties.
Speakup on February 14, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Are you including my two earlier posts today?
Howard Portnoy on February 14, 2012 at 4:36 PM
because respect for women and their rights concerning their own bodies is of the utmost importance to democrats and the obama administration…
hey- once those mean old grumpy white sexist racist republicans outlaw using your Obamafare card at the strip club the resourceful and dependent have to get that sort of entertainment somewhere…
denigrating and then shamelessly pandering to african americans and women since Reconstruction: The Democrat Party.
mittens on February 14, 2012 at 6:27 PM
This thread is useless without pictures.
Hayabusa on February 14, 2012 at 8:50 PM
WTF? I thought you could only go through the scanner once and then had to get a patdown…remember what happened with Rand Paul? They wouldn’t let him go through a second time.
VidOmnia on February 14, 2012 at 9:04 PM
Why do people respond to government with anything other than, “It’s none of your business”?
Dante on February 14, 2012 at 9:17 PM
Because they have badges and guns, Dante.
SDN on February 14, 2012 at 11:26 PM
if you don’t have the stones to tell them to pat you down instead then I don’t want to hear it.
I’ve gone through the TSA a few times and while I’m not a “cute girl” I don’t see why it’s a big deal for a women to get patted down by another women. Get over yourself.
The guy that pats my crotch with blue gloves on isn’t enjoying it anymore then I am… and that’s how it should be.
I refuse to go through the body scanners but they have an opt out for a pat down. That’s good enough for me.
If you’d honestly rather be bombarded with radiation in the body scanner then be patted down by a guard of the same sex… then you’ve just got personal issues.
Maybe I’m being insensitive here but there are real security concerns. I doubt the next bomb is going to come from a mother from texas but they’re even trying to address that with the profiling program that they are finally putting into practice. I don’t like the TSA anymore then anyone else but they seem to actually be trying and there are options. Personally, so long as I can opt out of the scanner I’m good.
Karmashock on February 15, 2012 at 2:04 AM
Republican’s created this disaster. The GOP is responsible for just as much, if not more, of the crap that is destroying this country as are Democrats, so stop acting like they’re some kind of superhero that comes in and saves us all from the policies of liberals when the GOP is in fact a willing accomplice.
Republican’s are vitually responsible for the police state we live in right now. The War on Drugs, the Dept of Homeland Security, the infusion of police depts with military firepower and tactics… That’s the GOP.
Spliff Menendez on February 15, 2012 at 8:31 AM
And this is why we’ve lost so many of our freedoms, and are on the way to losing them all.
At a certain point we have to start recognizing the fact that we have to be willing to make sacrifices and take risks to preserve freedom in America. It isn’t the sole province of soldiers to suffer and die for the cause of liberty.
Yes, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure leaves us vulnerable to attacks. So does freedom of speech. So does the freedom to keep and bear arms. Should we give up all those freedoms? How far are we willing to go to be “safe”? I would rather die free than live as a slave in some cozy nanny state.
Nom de Boom on February 15, 2012 at 8:50 AM
There is a fourth risk population and I am a member. Frequent fliers who get told to get in the scanner every single trip for some reason. My last eight flights in a row I have been directed to the scanner, and this was at 4 different airports. On the second trip I began opting out for the full body pat down. The TSA agents in each instance seemed surprised and annoyed, but only I knew my potential exposure history, they don’t keep track of it for you.
Difficultas_Est_Imperium on February 15, 2012 at 9:43 AM
The TSA sucks. Has the TSA ever stopped any terrorism? But they sure have a record of violating people, don’t they?
magicbeans on February 15, 2012 at 11:00 AM
Your government at work! =P
ZK on February 15, 2012 at 12:25 PM
Well said!
I could not agree with you more!
KMC1 on February 15, 2012 at 2:25 PM
Hmmm…
Hey, I have put this out there several times on HotAir, & no one has yet said why we can’t just use dogs to detect whatever those mega-expensive & intrusive machines are looking for.
Of course, there is one known reason why Napolitano will never use dogs.
Muslims would be offended.
itsnotaboutme on February 15, 2012 at 9:29 PM
Nobody would want to pass this poor old body three times through the scanner to get their jollies, but seriously…this is why I don’t fly even though I have kids living in three foreign countries. I’m not keen on public humiliation.
Bob's Kid on February 15, 2012 at 11:36 PM