Mother records TSA pat down, says she, her special needs son "treated like dogs" at DFW
DALLAS, Texas -- A mother says she and her special needs son were "treated like dogs" after her request for alternate screening at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport led an officer to closely pat down the boy.
Jennifer Williamson videotaped Sunday's search of her son, Aaron, who appears to cooperate. The Facebook video was viewed nearly six million times by Tuesday, March 28th.
Williamson posted this message with the video:
"We have been through hell this morning. They detained Aaron for well over an hour at DFW. (And deliberately kept us from our flight... we are now on an alternate) We were treated like dogs because I requested they attempt to screen him in other ways per TSA rules. He has SPD and I didn't want my child given a pat down like this. Let me make something else crystal clear. He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine. He is still several hours later saying "I don't know what I did. What did I do?" I am livid. Please, share... make this viral like the other children's videos with TSA... I wish I had taped the entire interchange because it was horrifying. We had two DFW police officers that were called and flanking him on each side. Somehow these power tripping TSA agents who are traumatizing children and doing whatever they feel like without any cause, need to be reined in."
Williamson, who didn't give her son's age or their destination, says he has sensory processing disorder. She says he didn't set off any alarms through security.
A Transportation Security Administration statement says approved procedures were followed to resolve an alarm on the passenger's laptop.
Williamson says they were detained more than an hour.
TSA officials say Williamson and her son were at the checkpoint 45 minutes, including to discuss screening procedures with her.