A video of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents patting down a 96-year-old woman in a wheelchair has gone viral and sparked outrage.
Jeanne Clarkson told CBS News that she was traveling back to Indiana from Washington Dulles Airport with her fiancé and 96-year-old mother when her mom received an extensive pat down by TSA agents.
"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," Clarkson told CBS News. "It was just shock, and frustration because they would not talk to me. I felt helpless."
Clarkson posted a six-minute video of the pat down by the TSA agents on Facebook in May. In the video, Clarkson can be heard defending her mother and angrily protesting to the agents.
"What the hell do you think she's going to do? Set off a shoe bomb?" she asks the agents in the video.
In the caption, Clarkson wrote that they were both in wheelchairs, but her mother was the only one who was subjected to such a long search. The video has received more than 8.9 million views on Facebook.
Washington Dulles International Airport released a statement about the video, and have said it shared customer concerns with TSA.
"Many of you have reached out to us to express concern over a video of a security screening taking place at Dulles International Airport. Security screening at our checkpoints is directed and conducted by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). We have shared customer comments with the TSA for their immediate review and appropriate action," the airport wrote.
In a statement to CBS News, TSA said the passenger did not indicate she was distressed by the pat-down and said the officer who gave the pat-down was "polite."
"TSA is committed to ensuring the security of travelers, while treating all passengers with dignity and respect. In this instance, the TSA officer provided advisements during the pat-down and was extremely polite. The passenger was very cooperative and gave no indication that she was agitated or in discomfort. She received a pat-down and was cleared for her flight," the agency said in a statement.
Newsweek has reached out to TSA for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
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