TSA Pat-Down Leaves Mich. Man Covered in Urine

A bladder cancer survivor from Michigan who wears a urostomy bag that collects his urine says a rough pat-down by a security agent at Detroit Metropolitan Airport caused the bag to spill its contents on his shirt and pants.

Tom Sawyer told CBS Affiliate WLNS that on November 7, after electing to go through the airport's new full-body scanner, he was pulled to the side to be patted down by a TSA agent.

The 61-year-old retired special education teacher said he asked to be examined more discreetly.

Sawyer told WLNS correspondent Jessica Maki that after being taken to a private area, he alerted the TSA agents about his urostomy bag and the danger of its lid being undone, but they didn't listen.

And when the pat-down began, Sawyer says the agent was so rough, the cap on the urostomy bag came off, spilling urine on him.

"No apology, no recognition - Is that urine? - no nothing, no offer to help me," Sawyer said. "And I had to face the fact that I had to walk through the airport with urine."

Describing the episode to the Detroit Free Press, Sawyer said he broke down crying: "I was just so embarrassed, so humiliated."

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Once he and his wife were finished with security, Sawyer changed his bag, but had no time to change clothes so as not to miss his flight to Orlando.

He had to board the plane soaked in urine.

"I was embarrassed to death," Sawyer said.

Sawyer has sent complaints to several TSA officials.

Sawyer told Maki that for people who use a urostomy bag to collect urine, "Our biggest nightmare is that in public something will happen. My nightmare came true."

On CBS' "The Early Show" this morning, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said he had "great concern over anybody who has felt like they have not been treated properly or have had something embarrassing like that happen."

The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network says bladder cancer survivors "deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by TSA agents."

According to the Bethesda, Md.-based group, there are more than 500,000 bladder cancer survivors in the U.S.

"No one living with an ostomy should have to fear flying because of concerns that they might be humiliated at an airport security checkpoint," the group's website states.

Sawyer's daughter, Elizabeth Danowski, told WLNS that she had a message for the TSA: "Do your job. Absolutely, we want you to do your job. I want to get on a plane and feel safe; I have a five year old, I want to know that when I fly with him we are safe.

"But do it with some human decency - listen."


More on TSA Enhanced Screening Controversy:

TSA: Pat-Down Policy May Be Revised
Clinton: I'd Avoid Airport Pat-Down if Possible
TSA Chief: No Change in Screening Policy
Torches & Pitchforks at Airport Security
Obama: I Understand Rage Over Enhanced Screening
TSA Modifies Screening Rule for Pilots
TSA Makes Cancer Victim Remove Prosthetic Breast

[batman1836]

Was the Michigan man actually "covered in urine"?...Or did he have a "wet spot"? Has CBS News "scored again" in distorting the news?
WHY do you do this?

[Guitfiddel]

I can understand how this man has been violated as far as his urine bag is concerned. What I don?t understand is why some people think they should not be searched at all. Now, these "SPECIAL PEOPLE" think some kind of profiling should be initiated to determine who should be searched. I wonder what the criteria would be for someone to be considered as "SPECIAL". Maybe you have to be one of the ?REAL AMERICANS? like Sarah Palin mentioned. So, if you?re a ?REAL AMERICAN? you shouldn?t be subjected to any searches. Just the other Americans and the immigrant types should be searched because they are less than the ?REAL AMERICANS? right?

[Jaylah54]

Someone (or a few) needs to have their head roll for this.

In 2005, my local VA hospital flew me to the regional VA hospital in Minneapolis to have an artificial aortic valve implanted in my chest. I had a stroke while I was on the table, so ended up spending 5 weeks there, learning how to talk again.

When my doctors agreed to discharge me the following day, the transportation office bought me a ticket back home.

When I got to the Minneapolis airport to return home, since my ticket had just been purchased the day before, I was pulled out for a more thorough screening. When I explained why my ticket had been such a "last-minute" purchase, the TSA employees were kindness personified. They asked me *several* times if the wand they use to scan people would interfere with my new valve. Even though I assured them my doctors had said it wouldn't, they double...triple checked before wanding me.

I was still quite aphasic, so tended to stammer when trying to answer questions. Although everyone was quite understanding and patient with me, this caused the screening to take longer so, at one point, I heard one of the security folks make a phone call and tell whomever was on the other end of the phone NOT to close the doors on the plane until I was on-board.

My carry-on was FULL of drugs I had been given by the Minneapolis pharmacy to hold me over until my first follow-up with my regular doctor at my local VA, and the TSB folks, seeing my name was on each prescription bottle, and knowing about my recent (within about one hour) hospitalization, didn't bat an eye.

The point is, there are some TSB folks that -- even with a frustrating situation -- manage to keep their heads and take kindness to an amazing level.

Since Mr. Sawyer TOLD these TSB security folks about his "urostomy bag and the danger of its lid being undone", there is absolutely no excuse for this. Those involved should be fired immediately.

[babooph]

Wow,the boarding now includes a "happy ending"...

[atomant59]

Now you patriots are whining because someone placed a hand in your crotch or under your boob, where were you when you're fellow Americans with Middle Eastern heritage where being strip searched or having their body cavities inspected? Where were you when their phone calls were being monitored without any judicial oversight? Where were you when they were being held and not charged with any specific crime? Come on and tell me you flag waiving, constitution thumping hypocrites, Where were you?????
You are the same as the A-Holes that stood by in the 40s when Japanese Americans were placed in containment camps during WWII.

America, you have become gutless! You want assured security without any inconvenience. You want a balanced budget without tax increases and without cuts to any of your special projects or the overly inflated defense budget that fills the pockets of political contributors.

America, you have become full of even more sickening right-wing hypocrites!!!!

[jxknowles]

I'm sure the majority of people can use standard x-ray machine scanners, but please have something for people like this. It's been an embarassment for years. I'd rather take high-speed rail, if we had high-speed rail.

[greco99-2009]

ttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26345949/ns/travel-news

"Carol Anne Gotbaum accidentally asphyxiated herself after being chained to a bench...."

Looks like a shoddy investigation and these guys are still on the job ?

Also, Christian missionary Rigoberto Alpinzar was killed by Air Marshals / TSA when he had a 'panic attack'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoberto_Alpizar

[greco99-2009]

Carol Gotbaum died on September 28 in police custody at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. She was traveling from New York City, where she lived with her husband Noah and three young children, to Tucson, where she was supposed to enter a month-long rehabilitation program for alcoholism. She missed her connecting flight from Phoenix to Tucson and became emotionally distraught. Faced with her outbursts, the security agents at the gate summoned the airport police.

It has been widely reported in the press that when Carol missed her flight, she became hysterical. She was screaming, "I am not a terrorist. I am a sick mom. I need help." She was right on every count. She was not a terrorist; she threatened no one. She was a sick mom. She needed help. Perhaps this was one of the few -- maybe the only occasion--where she openly cried out for help.

Did she get help? No, she got the treatment that we would normally expect the police to use with a rabid dog or a vicious criminal. Did anyone speak kindly to her, put a hand on her shoulder and try to calm her? No, she was manhandled and roughly treated, adding to her agitation and distress.

As anyone can see who has watched the airport surveillance video, which is widely available on the Internet, three burly police officers approached Carol, a slender woman of about 105 pounds, and promptly wrestled her to the ground, face-down. One of them appeared to sit on her back while she was handcuffed. Then they pulled her to her feet and dragged her away, with her hands cuffed behind her back. According to the police, they put her into a cell, hands still cuffed, and they shackled her to a wall with a chain....

[lirocky]

The same people complaining on here about the procedures would be complaining if you were just allowed to board a plane without being checked. Can't have it both ways, but... if you don't want the checks, then you have a reason to sue the government which is what most of you are waiting for the chance to do.

[hc88]

This was a STUNT, people with urostomy bags empty them before check points and flights.

[tmn]

Exactly!!

[xxxjackofspadesxxx]

I say to hell with the TSA goon/molestors. Here is why:
1932 # of aviation accidents 1999-2009 (aircraft records office) wikipedia
1933 - 2003 bombing of planes 86 bombings, 49 airplanes destroyed, 29 damaged, 2708 deaths (aerospaceweb.org)
This does not include 9/11 attacks as planes were used as missiles, deaths totalling 2996 that day alone
Sum:
13379 accidental airplane deaths over 10 years 1999-2009
5704 terrorist related airplane deaths over 71 years 1933-2004

What does this all add up to? PAT DOWN PLANES BETTER

Please feel free to research and repost Statistics and use them wherever you can to help make the sheeple aware.

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson