On December 22, 2010, Claire Hirschkind, a 56-year-old rape victim was arrested at Austin-Bergstrom Airport in Texas after refusing a TSA pat-down. Claire Hirschkind could not pass through the full-body scanner due to safety concerns about a pacemaker-type device imbedded in her chest.
Hirschkind told a female TSA agent not to touch her breasts during the pat-down. The TSA agent insisted she would touch the rape victim's breasts. When Hirschkind refused to have her breasts touched by the federal employee, she was forced to the ground and arrested.
The story probably has a few more details that will certainly add to the reasons behind this woman being pushed to the ground. Logic says there must have been some sort of additional resistance, but this is the TSA, so logic is not necessarily applicable. Thee fact remains, however, that an innocent, law-abiding rape survivor with a pacemaker-type device was humiliated, inconvenienced, and tormented because she did not want a federal employee to touch her breasts.
How many more places can you imagine this going on? Imagine trying to walk into Grand Central Station and an NYPD cop stops you and says, "I am going to have to feel your breasts and crotch before I let you in the building."
Don't worry. This sort of thing will not be happening for at least another few weeks. If it makes us feel a little safer, it's perfectly okay, right?
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