Woman, 85, claims she was strip-searched at JFK airport
An 85-year-old woman said she was injured and humiliated when she was strip-searched at an airport after she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner.
Transport security officials have denied allegations by Lenore Zimmerman, who said she was taken to a private room and made to take off her clothes after she asked to forgo the screening because she was worried it would interfere with her defibrillator. She missed her flight and had to take one two-and-a-half hours later, she said.
"I'm hunched over. I'm in a wheelchair. I weigh under 110lb (50kg)," she said. "Do I look like a terrorist?"
But in a statement the Transportation Security Administration said no strip search had been carried out.
"While we regret that the passenger feels she had an unpleasant screening experience, TSA does not include strip searches as part of our security protocols and one was not conducted in this case," the statement read.
Zimmerman was dropped off by her son at JFK airport in New York for a 1pm flight on Tuesday to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on JetBlue, she said. She arrived at the ticket counter at about 12.20pm and headed for security in a wheelchair, her metal walker in her lap.
She said she had been traveling to Florida for at least a decade and had never had a problem being patted down until now. "I worry about my heart, so I don't want to go through those things," she said, referring to the advanced image technology screening machines at the airport.
As a result, she said, she was taken into the private screening room by a female agent and made to strip.
"Private screening was requested by the passenger, it was granted and lasted approximately 11 minutes," the TSA said. "TSA screening procedures are conducted in a manner designed to treat all passengers with dignity, respect and courtesy and that occurred in this instance."
The private screening was not recorded.
Jonathan Allen, a TSA spokesman, said a review of closed-circuit television at the airport had showed that proper procedures before and after the screening had been followed.
Zimmerman said she banged her shin during the process and it bled "like a pig,", partly because she is on blood-thinning medication. She said an emergency medical technician patched her up, but she was told to see a doctor when she arrived in Florida to make sure the wound did not get infected. There are no records indicating medical attention was called on her behalf.
"I don't know what triggered this. I don't know why they singled me out," she said.
Her son, Bruce Zimmerman, said: "My mother is a little old woman. She's not disruptive or unco-operative. I don't understand how this happened."
He said she had had an increasingly difficult time travelling, especially since her husband died a few years ago. She has two grandchildren and her older son, a doctor, died in 2007.
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