The Transportation Security Administration is under fire once again after a Florida woman alleged workers made her elderly mother take off her adult diapers during screening.
Jean Weber said that her 95-year-old mother was asked to take off her Depends during a pat down at a northwest Florida airport about a week ago, MSNBC.com reported.
The woman, who uses a wheelchair, was ushered to a special room at Northwest Florida Regional Airport by TSA officers after one of them thought they felt something "suspicious" on the woman's leg, Weber said.
The TSA denied the allegations Monday and said its employees acted appropriately during the encounter, in which the elderly woman ended up flying from Florida to Michigan with no underwear on.
Officials issued a statement to MSNBC stating that no one required the woman to take off her diaper.
"While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner," a TSA statement read. "We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally, according to proper procedure and did not require this passenger to remove an adult diaper."
Weber said she is sticking by her story, which apparently ended with her being patted down by TSA officers also.
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"My story has not changed from my first contact with TSA at the airport," she said.
Weber said when she took the diaper off and went back through the security area, she began crying because of the ordeal.
That set off another warning for "suspicious behavior" and she was taken to a closed room and patted down by TSA officials, she said.
Eventually, Weber's mother made to the plan on time, but her daughter thinks the TSA went overboard and did not properly handle the situation.
"They told me it was part of the procedure," she said. "I understand procedure, but when you treat people like that all because they are in a wheelchar, it might be time to rethink that procedure."
