© The Associated Press/Bruce ZimmermanLenore Zimmerman, 85, who arrived in a wheelchair for a flight at New York’s Kennedy Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, said that she was required to go through a strip search after she asked to be patted down instead. She was concerned that passing through the airport’s body scanner would interfere with her defibrillator.
An 85-year-old woman said Saturday that she was injured and humiliated when she was strip searched at an airport after she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner, allegations that transportation security officials denied.
Lenore Zimmerman said she was taken to a private room and made to take off her pants and other clothes after she asked to forgo the screening because she worried it would interfere with her defibrillator. She missed her flight and had to take one 2 1/2 hours later, she said.
"I'm hunched over. I'm in a wheelchair. I weigh under 110 pounds (50 kilograms)," she said from her winter home at a seniors community in Coconut Creek, Florida. "Do I look like a terrorist?"
But the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Saturday that no strip search was conducted.
"While we regret that the passenger feels she had an unpleasant screening experience, TSA does not include strip searches as part of our security protocols and one was not conducted in this case," the statement read.
