A tweet on Tuesday by Scott MacFarlane, a TV correspondent with Cox Media in Washington, notes that a TSA agent exposed the breasts of a 17-year-old female during a pat-down at Los Angeles International Airport (h/t Twitchy). The teen, whose name is not revealed in the story, is further identified as the grandniece of Republican U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall of Texas.
Hall insists that the girl was “badly mistreated” and that the TSA officer “should’ve been fired.” The agency, however, has deemed the incident “accidental,” claiming that the teen was wearing a “loose-fitting” sundress that contributed to the wardrobe malfunction.
The officer is reported to have “apologized” for the mistake, which is all to the good. Besides accidents do happen.
But in the case of the Transportation Security Administration, agents seem not to learn from their mistakes. In June of 2011, the TSA settled a lawsuit with 24-year-old Lynsie Murley of Amarillo, whose breasts were exposed under similar circumstances. That, too, was deemed an accident, even though Murley claimed that the agents “joked and laughed about the incident” and that one male worker who missed the show quipped, “Just have to watch the video.”
In another presumed “accident,” agents asked Ellen Terrell, a wife and mother, to pass through a so-called nude body scanner three times, after one of them told Terrell she had “a cute figure.” Since that story was first reported, the TSA has abolished the controversial full body scanners. It has not, howeverm stopped hiring agents with an appreciation for cute figures.
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