From KOMA News.
A dying woman says a a security pat-down at Sea-Tac Airport left her embarrassed in front of crowds of people.
Michelle Dunaj says screeners checked under bandages from recent surgeries and refused to give her a private search when she requested one.
Dunaj, who is dying of leukemia, carried a large amount of prescription drugs through Sea-Tac to head to Hawaii for what would be one of the last trips of her life.
She called Alaska Airlines ahead of time to request a wheelchair and to ask how her medicines should be separated for the security line.
“I did everything they asked me to do, so I didn’t think it would be an issue,” she said.
But Dunaj says nothing went right at the security checkpoint.
A machine couldn’t get a reading on her saline bags, so a TSA agent forced one open, contaminating the fluid she needs to survive.
She says agents also made her lift up her shirt and pull back the bandages holding feeding tubes in place. Dunaj needs those tubes because of organ failure.
With other passengers staring, Dunaj says she asked for privacy and was turned down.
“They just said that it was fine; the location we were at was fine,” she said.
TSA spokesperson Ann Davis said “Officers are trained to perform pat downs in a dignified manner and, at any point, passengers can request a private screening with a witness present.”
However, Dunaj says her request for a private screening was denied, and she does not want others with special needs to run into the same problem.
“When somebody wants to take a trip, especially what I call an ‘end-of-life trip’ because you want to see your family and friends, then it becomes more important than just taking a trip,” she said.
Davis said it is against policy for passengers to be denied privacy if they ask for it. The agency is responding to a request by KOMO News to look into the incident.
The TSA, true to its worthless nature, denies everything:
The Transportation Security Agency says its agents followed protocol when they patted down a leukemia patient in what the passenger described as a humiliating experience, but the woman says the TSA’s version of events is not accurate.
……But the agency says that’s not what happened.
“At no point did a TSA officer open the passenger’s medically necessary liquids and the passenger was never asked to remove or pull off any bandages,” the TSA said in a statement. “After reviewing video from the security checkpoint, we have determined that our screening procedures were followed.
“That isn’t true,” said Dunaj in response to TSA’s statement. “They absolutely did open up one of my saline bags. I was asked to lift up my shirt and pull back the dressing.”
With other passengers staring, Dunaj said her request for privacy was denied.
“They just said that it was fine; the location we were at was fine,” she said, “and I didn’t feel that it was fine, because everybody was looking at me.”
The TSA has not released video of Dunaj’s screening.
No video, no proof of TSA jackbootery. Makes sense.
To cover their asses, the TSA had an agent personally escort Ms. Dunaj through security on her return trip:
Tears flowed Wednesday as Michelle Dunaj made what she says is her final walk through Sea-Tac Airport.
……She’s dying of leukemia, and headed home to Michigan after saying her last goodbyes to family in Pierce County.
“It’s sad,” she said. “I mean, nobody thinks they are going to die at 34 or that their life is going to be short.”
……Wednesday, a TSA agent escorted Dunaj through the security checkpoint. She was grateful, but wants to keep her embarrassment from happening to anyone else.
“I just don’t want any other people who have special needs, whether it be medically or otherwise, to have to go through the same thing,” she said.
Just a reminder: The TSA, created in 2002, has never stopped any terrorist from actually boarding an American commercial aircraft. But they utilize x-ray scanners, metal detectors, pat-downs, sexual molestations, strip searches, and federal air marshals, to target Kinder Eggs, whistleblowers, thermoses, refusniks, white middle class Americans, elderly people, mentally retarded people, children, and Soldiers.
The TSA has convinced me to do what no terrorist could: to not fly anymore.