TSA denies forcing woman to remove diaper at Fla. airport

The Transportation Security Administration on Monday denied a report that airport screeners in Florida asked a 95-year-old woman in a wheelchair to remove her adult diaper.

“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,” TSA spokesman Kawika Riley told The Hill.

{mosads}The elderly woman, who suffers from leukemia and was on her way to an assisted living facility in Michigan, was reportedly detained for 45 minutes by security last weekend.

According to Jean Weber, the woman’s daughter and travel companion, screeners said they felt something “suspicious” on her leg during an initial pat-down and took the elderly woman into a private room before asking Weber to remove her adult incontinence diaper.

According to TSA, various options were presented to the passenger and her daughter during the private screening. The agency refused to discuss further details of the case, but maintained that security officers followed protocol.

“TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,” the agency said.

“If this is your procedure, which I do understand, I also feel that your procedure needs to be changed,” Weber said of TSA on CNN Sunday. According to Weber, TSA agents allowed the two women to find a bathroom in order to remove the diaper.

{mosads}”It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber told the Northwest Florida Daily News.

The incident, which took place at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend, is the latest in a series of cases that have prompted outrage over TSA security screening procedures. 

The agency changed its rules regarding screening children under 12 last week after reports that TSA officers patted down a 6-year-old and an 8-month-old, triggering similar protests from the public and members of Congress.