TSA Agents Under Fire After Video Shows 96-Year-Old Woman In Wheelchair Put Through Extensive Pat-Down

TSA workers from Washington Dulles Airport are under fire after a video of a passenger pat down has gone viral.

According to Newsweek, Jeanne Clarkson was traveling back home to Indiana from Washington with her fiance and 96-year-old mother, Evelyn LaBrier, when her wheelchair-bound mother was the subject of a lengthy pat down by the TSA.

CBS News shares that the video was over six minutes long while the search was described as being “prolonged and repetitive.” Clarkson, who is in a wheelchair herself, can be heard asking the TSA officers why the search was taking so much time.

“What the he** do you think she’s going to do? Set off a shoe bomb?”

Following the May incident, Clarkson shared the video to her Facebook page and it has been viewed over 8.9 million times and counting. She says she just cannot get over how shocking the lengthy search was, pointing out that they have traveled together many times with her mother but this is the first time that something like this has happened.

“I was just shocked. I’ve traveled with her before, I’ve been in a wheelchair myself unable to walk through the machines and I’ve never had that kind of a pat-down ever. I was just shocked. I couldn’t believe they were doing this to my 96-year-old mother. It was just shock, and frustration because they would not talk to me. I felt helpless.”

TSA PAT-DOWN OUTRAGE: TSA is responding after a 96-year-old woman in a wheelchair was subjected to an enhanced pat-down – at least six minutes long and family members asking what threat she could pose. @KennethMoton? with the video – and the TSA response. https://t.co/FejGbNok8s pic.twitter.com/WpbYHriv9V

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) June 10, 2018

Following the outrage, Washington Dulles Airport also released a statement on Facebook regarding the incident saying that many customers have reached out to them about the six-minute pat down and they have shared customers’ concerns with the TSA for “immediate review and appropriate action.”

In the post from two weeks ago, they also shared the number and email address for customers to express their concerns to the TSA directly while also telling customers that the TSA doesn’t monitor their Facebook page, so do not leave messages for them on there.

TSA being criticized after video goes viral of agents patting down 96-year-old woman in wheelchair https://t.co/UPJKS5E1ZJ pic.twitter.com/ZtRaxJGOkx

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 10, 2018

In addition, the TSA released a statement to CBS News, saying that Evelyn did not indicate that she was distressed by the pat-down while also stating that the TSA agent who was in charge of her was very polite. But Clarkson says that her mother was just following directions and this whole ordeal has left her traumatized.

“She didn’t know what to say. She does not want to fly again ever. She didn’t know what they were looking for. She was scared. She was just following directions. She said she didn’t know what to do,” she says.

At this point, Clarkson says that no members of the TSA have contacted her.