Stroke Victim Had An Expired Drivers License, Could Not Speak Her Name

A woman in a wheelchair from a stroke 10 years ago and carrying an expired drivers' license was denied boarding on a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Phoenix because she was unable to speak her own name.

The New York Post reports that Heidi Wright was booked on the flight, and she had arrived at the airport with her sister Sherry. She was stopped at a security checkpoint by a TSA agent because her drivers' license was expired. Sherry Wright said that the agent insisted that Heidi speak.

Sherry Wright said she showed the agent her sister's ID, social security card, and DMV papers, but the agent would not let her through security unless she could speak. Heidi Wright wound up taking an eight-hour bus ride to Phoenix, rather than her flight.

Sherry Wright said the TSA agent was rude and insensitive. TSA spokesman Mico Melendez that the incident "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."

FMI: www.tsa.gov