Yukari Miyamae Says She Doesn't Like Being Touched
The Longmont woman accused of grabbing a Transportation Security Administration agent's breast spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday, explaining that she doesn't like to be touched because she was abducted as a child and has a heightened sense of personal space.
Yukari Miyamae told Boulder community radio station KGNU, where she works a volunteer DJ, that she was abducted when she was 7 years old. The 61-year-old said that she was born in Japan and because of that experience and her upbringing, she doesn't like people touching her.
"I have a very strong sense of endangerment. I have a high alert system for my safety," said a soft-spoken Miyamae. "People don't usually come near me that close."
She explained that she felt she was targeted in Phoenix where she is "terrorized" by TSA agents, who have forced her to endure pat downs every time she passes through the city in her capacity as an interpreter.
"I started this job in May and I've been subject to aggressive pat downs a few times ... (where they are) grabbing my breast, grabbing all my sore sensitive area, from my side to the front of my body, to the inside of my thigh," Miyamae said. "I just suffer so much from being subject to a pat down."