[Infowarrior] - Video of TSA agent patting down child in wheelchair goes viral

[Richard Forno]

Video of TSA agent patting down child in wheelchair goes viral

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2012/03/19/video-of-tsa-agent-patting-down-child-in-wheelchair-goes-viral/


A YouTube video of a 3-year-old boy who was wheelchair-bound with a broken leg while undergoing a TSA pat-down has gone viral, and sparked controversy.

The footage of a crippled child is unsettling to watch, no doubt. This kid should have never gone through this. But as the video gains more attention in the national media, some are questioning whether the situation was exaggerated by the boy’s father, Chicago radio personality Matt DuBiel.

DuBiel took the video and added commentary and a sensationalized title “TSA nabs suspected Al Queda terrorist. “Does this video take an unfair stab at the TSA?

The incident happened in 2010, but the footage just popped up on YouTube over the weekend. DuBiel told the media that he decided to post the 3-minute clip when he was looking through old family videos. “I [recently] watched the video with my 10-year-old and my heart start beating real fast,” DuBiel told Fox News. “I started getting angry, a rash of emotions and then I had to explain to my 10-year-old what was happening and why I allowed it to happen.”

The video quickly spread across the Internet and has been viewed more than 90,000 times.



The video shows a TSA agent conducting a search by jostling the boy around in his chair. The agent takes swabs for explosive residue on the boy’s hands and under his shirt. It’s ridiculous that this helpless child is undergoing a pat-down, but the agent is friendly, the father cooperates, and the boy seems only a little shaken up.

A reporter at the Chicago Tribune writes: “All in all, the toddler, identified as a 3-year-old in the text, seemed to handle the pat-down well.”

Commentary added to the video tells a more dramatic story about this boy who was on his way to Disney World in Orlando, Fl. with his family:

For example, one caption reads: “My little boy wanted me to come over to hold his hand and give him a hug. He was trembling with fear. I was told I could NOT touch him or come near him during this process. Instead we had to pretend this was ‘ok’ so he didn’t panic.”

Was the boy truly terrified? SFGate checked in with DuBiel who says, “The truth is, he was trembling. He was trembling significantly. It wasn’t something that was conveyed on camera but he was scared.” DuBiel thinks he could have done more to the video to make it dramatic such as music but he only added the captions.

Over the past few years, several videos and photos of the TSA searching children have sparked public outrage. In 2010 a video of a 3-year-old screaming as an official searched her went viral. Last year, a photo of two agents patting down a baby’s diaper brought in thousands of page views.

The TSA responded to the criticism in September 2011 by announcing that the agency would perform fewer and less-invasive pat-downs on children. If DuBiel’s child were to pass through security today in a wheelchair would he face a search? The TSA told the Chicago Tribune that they couldn’t answer that question.


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