The Transportation Security Administration has denied claims that its security officers at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport told a wheelchair-bound 95-year-old woman to remove her adult diaper during a pat down search.
"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," the agency said Sunday night in a statement sent to CNN.
"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."
Jean Weber filed a complaint after her wheelchair-bound 95-year-old mother, who is in the final stages of her battle with leukemia, was allegedly asked to remove an adult diaper during a pat down search.
According to Weber, her elderly mother was first taken to a glass-partitioned area and patted down before being taken to another room. As she was waiting outside of the room, officers conducting the pat down told Weber that her mother's Depends diaper would need to be removed because it was soiled and impeding their search.
“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”
Weber took her elderly mother to the bathroom and removed her diaper, then returned to complete the pat down. She said she did not have another clean diaper with her.
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