Video - GMA - April 13, 2012
The parents of a six year old girl who was subjected to an enhanced pat-down at the hands of the TSA appeared confused and disturbed in an interview on ABC News' Good Morning America today as they called for a change in security procedures.
Selena and Dr. Todd Drexel, of Bowling Green, Ky., were thrust into the spotlight this week after a video of their daughter, Anna, being searched at New Orleans Armstrong International Airport went viral on the internet.
The couple said they allowed the video to be uploaded to Youtube in order to gauge other opinions on the incident which they feel was very wrong.
"Initially she was just confused," Todd Drexel said. "Afterward she broke down crying because she really didn't understand what she had done wrong." he added.
"I did ask for alternatives, I asked for her to be rescanned. They just refused and said they were going to do what they were going to do." Selena Drexel said, adding that a TSA supervisor made it clear in a non verbal way that "there would be trouble" if the parents "caused a fuss" and refused to allow the pat down to be completed.
Mrs Drexel added that TSA agents did not adequately answer her questions when she asked why her daughter had been selected for a pat-down.
"We struggle to teach our kids to protect themselves, to say 'no, it's not ok to touch me in this way in this area," Mrs Drexel, said. "Yet here we are saying it's ok for these people." If we don't find other ways we're making them more vulnerable, she said, adding that procedures for children should be changed.
Anna's reaction to the incident speaks volumes. She was upset and distressed because she thought she had done something wrong and was being punished by the so called authorities. The untainted innocence of the child's view of the incident tells you that there is something very very wrong with the way millions of Americans are allowing their government to act in the name of security.
To pick out a six year old child a a possible security threat and frisk her for dangerous weapons in an American airport is utterly insane, however it is far from an isolated incident. If anyone else abducted someone's child and then sexually molested them they would be rightly called a pedophile and locked up for a long time, but when the government does it we deem it acceptable.