Traveler Claims Search Was "Aggressive And Painful"

A breast cancer survivor who had recently undergone a radical mastectomy has filed a federal lawsuit against the TSA because of an "enhanced" pat-down search she underwent at Albuquerque's Sunport Airport on Aug. 25.

Adrienne Durso of Carlsbad, CA, filed the suit, claiming the search violates her 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search. Television station KSWB and other media sources report that Durso was traveling with her son when the search occurred. She went through the metal detector, and was then told she had been selected for the pat-down.

Durso says she told the TSA screener about her mastectomy, and the agent concentrated on that area "forcefully applying pressure to the sensitive area," according to the court filing. Durso says that, after the pat-down, she complained to a supervisor about the aggressiveness of the search, and was told that it was the same search that everyone received. When her 17-year-old son asked why he was not searched in that way, the filing indicates that the supervisor said he "didn't have boobs."

Durso is one of four people involved in the suit. The others include a man who claims that a TSA screener spent an inordinate amount of time on his genital area, and a 12-year-old girl who says the full-body scan she was subjected to was done without the consent of her legal guardians.

The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, seeks to have screening methods changed, and seeks unspecified damages for the plaintiffs.

FMI: www.dcd.uscourts.gov