Today, the TSA has apologized for sifting through the colostomy device of 89-year-old Ruth Sherman and putting 85-year-old Lenore Zimmerman’s back brace through an X-ray machine during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2011 at JFK. Even though the utter ridiculousness of these actions is pretty obvious, the TSA is still reassuring that there was no strip search of any kind.
Both women claimed that after opting out of the walk-through metal detector, they were subjected to strip searches by two female TSA officers. Sherman’s permanent colostomy bag creates a bulge under her clothing, and once the TSA officers noticed the bulge they urged Sherman to pull down her pants, and pull down her underwear.
“Terrorists remain focused on attacking transportation through tactics such as concealing explosives under clothing,” a blog post on December 4th stated that the TSA does not include strip searches in its regular protocols.
In the case of Zimmerman, TSA officers were told that she was wearing a money belt. Unlike medical braces and supports, money belts must be removed. After the passenger removed the brace they realized it had a medical purpose. The TSA blog post stated, “It is unclear why Zimmerman told the officers her back brace was a money belt.”
Oh I don’t know maybe because, she’s 85 years old and doesn’t know what the hell is going on most of the time? She probably mistook the TSA officer for Matlock or Jessica Fletcher? So many logical explanations. So little time.
The TSA was obviously just doing its job. I mean, I think I read on Wikipedia somewhere that walkers can conceal various lethal gasses that can be released at any time! Why else do you think the elderly watch NCIS? So they can harness the skills to commit acts of terrorism to the unsuspecting American public, that’s why! I’m sure these two old bitties looked suspicious as fuck.
They had a good reason to search that woman’s sack of dung. There could have been explosives in there, or maybe even a miniature terrorist floating around. It’s not like the TSA has ever overstepped their bounds in the past. Yes, they’ve always been totally reasonable.
TSA regrets ‘discomfort,’ but says elderly fliers weren’t strip-searched