UPDATE: The TSA has commented on the incident, wherein agents “detained” a three-year-old girl and “confiscated” her stuffed animal because she was in a wheelchair. She and her family were on their way to Disney World.
NOTE: BuzzFeed flipped the YouTube video to make it easier to view. The original video can be seen below the article.
Via: youtube.com
The Transportation Security Administration detained a three-year-old and confiscated her stuffed animal because the little girl was in a wheelchair and therefore required "additional screening measures."
Fox News Radio reports that the incident occurred on Feb. 9 at Lambert-St. Louise Airport.
Nathan and Annie Forck were travelling to Disney World with their three children for a family vacation. The couple's three-year-old daughter Lucy has Spina bifida and is confined to a wheelchair.
The family had no problems passing through the TSA security checkpoint, but an agent stopped them on their way to the gate, saying that Lucy needed to go through an additional screening process. When the Forcks questioned the TSA agent, he said that they needed to pat down Lucy and swab her wheelchair.
"They specifically told me that they were singling her out for this special treatment because she's in a wheelchair," Nathan Forck told Fox News. "They are specifically singling out disabled people for this special scrutiny. It's rather offensive to me as a father of a disabled child."
When the agent confiscated the three-year-old's stuffed animal, a fluffy sheep named "Lamby," Annie Forck whipped out her phone and began filming a video of the exchange.
"You can't touch my daughter unless I record it," Annie Forck can be heard saying.
"It's illegal to do that," the agent replied.
"The problem is, I don't allow anyone to touch my little daughter," Annie Forck countered. When she refused to turn off her phone, a group of TSA agents were called over to surround the family and "guard" the increasingly distraught Lucy.
In the video, the wheelchair-bound girl can be seen sobbing uncontrollably, at one point screaming, "I don't want to go Disney World!"
After 30 minutes, the Forcks were re-screened, Lucy was reunited with her "Lamby," and the TSA allowed the family continue on their trip.
"All of this because I didn't want them to touch my child's body," Annie Forck comments in the video of the incident, which she uploaded to YouTube.
Nathan Forck told Fox News Radio that they were not trying to make a scene at the airport, and that while certain levels of security are needed at airports, he believes what happened in St. Louis was inappropriate.
"We were going to stand our ground and state very clearly what they could and could not do to our child," he said. "It was very disheartening. It broke my heart that Lucy had to go through that on the way to -- of all places -- Disney World."