Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Sunday, June 17, 2007

Airline search was too invasive

By SARAH GIBBS, Gays Mills, Wis.

Recently, I was an airline passenger. Because of the treatment I received at the hands of the Transportation Security Administration, I will never fly again.

It seems that the TSA assumes that every person getting on a plane is a terrorist with weapons until proven innocent. I use a wheelchair and can’t walk through the metal detector like most folks do.

To prove my innocence I had to submit to a “pat down” before being allowed to board the plane. The “pat down” was executed by a rubber-gloved female TSA employee while I sat in my wheelchair.

Along with less invasive “pats,” she felt around both of my breasts, pressed both of her hands into my crotch, and ran her hands down my buttocks while I, as instructed, leaned from side to side. I know no words that truly describe the depth of my distress caused by this invasion of the most private, vulnerable parts of my body.

Do we abandon our ethics for the sense of security? There has to be a better way.

All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.