{"id":1856,"date":"2011-12-03T21:22:37","date_gmt":"2011-12-04T05:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2011-12-03T21:22:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-04T05:22:37","slug":"85-year-old-110-lb-grandmother-strip-searched-by-tsa-at-jfk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/85-year-old-110-lb-grandmother-strip-searched-by-tsa-at-jfk\/","title":{"rendered":"85 Year Old 110-lb Grandmother Strip Searched by TSA at JFK"},"content":{"rendered":"

NYDailyNews.com<\/a>
\n‘I really look like a terrorist,’ 110-pound Long Island grandmother says<\/p>\n

By Nicholas Hirshon
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

An 85-year-old Long Island grandmother says she plans to sue the TSA after a humiliating strip search on Tuesday by agents at JFK Airport.<\/p>\n

Lenore Zimmerman, who lives in Long Beach, says she was on her way to a 1 p.m. flight to Fort Lauderdale when security whisked her to a private room and took off her clothes.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I walk with a walker \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I really look like a terrorist,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said sarcastically. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m tiny. I weigh 110 pounds, 107 without clothes, and I was strip-searched.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said a review of closed circuit TV footage from the airport shows \u00e2\u20ac\u0153proper procedures were followed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But Zimmerman, whose hunched back puts her at 4-foot-11, said her ordeal began after her son, Bruce, drove her to the JetBlue terminal for the Florida flight. She lives in warm Coconut Creek during the winter.<\/p>\n

She checked her bags, waited for a wheelchair and parted ways with her doting son \u00e2\u20ac\u201d her only immediate relative.<\/p>\n

When Zimmerman reached a security checkpoint, she asked if she could forgo the advanced image technology screening equipment, fearing it might interfere with her defibrillator.<\/p>\n

She said she normally gets patted down. But this time, she says that two female agents escorted her to a private room and began to remove her clothes.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was outraged,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Zimmerman, a retired receptionist.<\/p>\n

As she tried to lift a lightweight walker off her lap, she says, the metal bars banged against her leg and blood trickled from a gash.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My sock was soaked with blood,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was bleeding like a pig.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

She says the TSA agents showed no sympathy, instead pulling down her pants and asking her to raise her arms.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why are you doing this?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said she asked the agents, who did not respond.<\/p>\n

The TSA claims the footage does not show any sign of the injury.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our screening procedures are conducted in a manner designed to treat all passengers with dignity, respect and courtesy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Farbstein said.<\/p>\n

Zimmerman says a medic arrived to treat her injury. The process took so long that she missed her 1 p.m. flight and had to catch a later one.<\/p>\n

Her son said he was shocked when his mom called around 9 p.m. that night and described what happened.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She was put through a hell of a day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Zimmerman, who takes blood thinners, later had a tetanus shot for fear of infection from the walker wound.<\/p>\n

Bruce Zimmerman, 53, said he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why the agents targeted his mom.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She looks like a sweet, little old lady,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a disruptive person or uncooperative.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NYDailyNews.com ‘I really look like a terrorist,’ 110-pound Long Island grandmother says By Nicholas Hirshon An 85-year-old Long Island grandmother says she plans to sue the TSA after a humiliating strip search on Tuesday by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[31,232],"tags":[3225,3224,2879,3226,587,698,3227],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}