Double Amputee Humiliated By TSA Agents, US Congressman Says

A double amputee was humiliated by Transportation Security Administration agents who made him take off both his legs and refused to help put them back on, a US Congressman wrote to the TSA.

In his letter to the TSA, California Representative Duncan Hunter wrote that several Marines from returning to San Diego from Arizona on March 13 were treated badly by agents.

“These Marines had an unfortunate experience, which is worthy of your attention and any explanation you can provide,” Hunter added in his letter to the TSA.

One of those Marines was Toran Gaal, a man who lost both legs to an improvised explosive device.

“(W)ith numerous TSA officers sitting around and unwilling to assist, an officer made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a second screening location where he was asked to stand again with extraordinary difficulty while they examined his wheelchair,” Hunter wrote.

The TSA issued a statement about the double amputee humiliated by agents, saying officials were “learning more about the situation, and in the coming days will expand the wounded warrior screening program.”

The TSA’s Wounded Warrior program allows injured service members to go through a faster screening process. The agency said it will further expand its screening options.

But the TSA denied that man was forced to remove his prosthetic legs, and closed-circuit television footage of the incident seems to corroborate this story.

Gaal, who was not named in Hunter’s letter to the TSA, lives in San Diego and services in the Wounded Warrior Battalion out of Camp Pendelton. He was flying back from a spring training fundraiser when the TSA incident took place.

Adding to the uncertainty over whether the double amputee was purposely humiliated by TSA agents is the fact that both of the men doing the screening are veterans themselves. The TSA noted that one is a former Marine and the other an 18-year veteran of the Air Force.