The TSA has once again proven that they don't have common sense. At least that's what a mother of a disabled 12-year-old daughter is saying after the Transportation Security Administration detained her wheelchair bound child because they found a trace of explosives on her hands.
Tammy Daniels was flying with her daughter from Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport to Tampa, Florida when the TSA detained her daughter, Shelbi Walser, who suffers from brittle bone disease, because they found traces of explosives on her hands when they selected herfor a random explosives test.
A TSA agent swiped the little girl's fingers and hands and she tested positive for explosives.
"It could have come off fertilizer because we have chickens," Walser told News 8. "I could have run through something from them. It could have just come off the ground because I roll through everything."
Her mother recorded the incident with a cell phone video recorder.
"It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong, we're going to get you on your way," an official told the girl as she was crying.
"I was just scared because I didn't know what they were going to do," Walser told News 8.
Daniels claims she wasn't able to comfort her daughter as the TSA forced her to stand back as the TSA took an hour to assess the situation.
"I am by no means undermining our safety in the air," Daniels told News 8. "After 9/11, by no means am I doing that. But, when it comes to children, common sense is not in a textbook."
Eventually her daughter was cleared, but they didn't test the girl's wheelchair, where she likely picked up the residue as she pushed herself in it.
Daniels and Shelbi were able to make their flight on time, but they were embarassed and upset by the situation.
The TSA released a statement defending itself in the situation.
"We are sensitive to the concerns of passengers who were not satisfied with their screening experience and we invite those individuals to provide feedback to TSA through a variety of channels," the TSA statement read, according to News 8. "We work to balance those concerns with the very real threat that our adversaries will attempt to use explosives to carry out attacks on planes."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
