A woman claims the TSA wouldn't let her sister board a plane because her sister couldn't say her own name as the result of a stroke.
Sherry Wright was shocked by the treatment her and her sister, Heidi received from the Transportation Security Administration at Los Angeles International Airport. Heidi was supposed to fly to Phoenix.
Heidi was left confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak or write after the suffered from a stroke about a decade ago. She was stopped by the TSA at LAX at first because she had an expired driver's license, ABC reports.
Sherry Wright says what happened next surprised her as the TSA agent was rude and insensitive and insisted that Heidi tried to speak.
"I showed her ID, her social and her DMV (licence) papers," Sherry said, however it wasn't good enough. "He just wanted me to make my sister talk, and I couldn't believe it. I was just standing there, tears were coming out and I was like, 'Are you serious? We can't get her to talk'."
An older sister that was supposed to start caring for Heidi in Phoenix was frustrated as she said she had called the TSA beforehand to find out what was needed. The TSA has a program from disabled travelers.
TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez gave a response to the incident to ABC.
"I think it could have been handled differently by the TSA and it probably could have been handled differently by the family, and hopefully moving forward the family won't have this problem again, because they know about the programs that we have in place," Melendez said.
Heidi wasn't allowed to fly. Instead, she had to take an eight-hour bus trip to Phoenix. She filed a complaint to US Homeland Security following the incident.
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