At 7:30 this morning, at the heart of #COVID19 in a virtually empty @EWRAirport, @United Terminal C, no @TSA expedite, I was randomly selected to get pat down. I was scared. #TSA
Two women watching, as one, invasively, reached beneath my shirt, touching my skin around and beneath my waistband, pushing her hands up my legs right beneath my pelvis, onto my breasts, telling me not to fidget, repeatedly, glaring into my eyes, 6 inches from my face.
I didn’t know whether her gloves were infected, clothes, hair, brushing against mine, smearing my clothes. A large group of TSA security and police who stood at least 6 feet away, reacted to my fear by yelling from a pre-COVID-19 rule manual, inhumane automatons, with masks.
TSA told me I would have to leave, couldn’t board my flight, if I didn’t allow the women to finish the pat down. I looked at the nightmarish crowd gathered around me, walked out, went to the United counter to rebook. The United rep suggested I wash my hands, try again, so I did.
Went back to TSA, was immediately stopped, and told that because I made a big commotion, I would not be allowed to fly at all today, took my driver’s license and threatened to place me on a danger list.
I'm a frequent flyer and every agency is working to protect us. Not TSA. And not because they thought I was a threat. TSA is just flagrantly reckless for not developing a way to screen without extensive and intimate touching of a person’s entire body at the height of COVID-19.
We have so many protections in place. How dare TSA threaten my health because that’s all they are willing to do. At the very least, to avoid putting their hands on me, they could have used a full body imaging machine or a puffer to detect explosive residue.
It’s time to take action, develop legislation to develop new procedures for everyone’s safety. We are all at risk now. @Malinowski @SenatorMenendez @GovMurphy
