A wheelchair-bound toddler’s trip to Disney World started with tears when Transportation Security Administration officers took away her stuffed animal and pulled her aside to perform an extra security check.
Lucy Forck, of Osage Beach, Mo., was so upset by the situation that she uttered words only the most distraught 3-year-old would say.
“I don’t want to go to Disney World,” Lucy cried, shaking her head.
Parents Nathan and Annie Forck were outraged at the way airport officials handled screening Lucy. When Annie started recording her family’s Feb. 9 encounter with the TSA, officials at the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport told her that taping TSA procedures was illegal. But Forck refused to put her phone down, later editing and uploading the incident to YouTube.
“It was the first time we traveled anywhere together as a family,” Nathan Forck told the Daily News. “I guess everyone else takes the TSA’s scrutiny for granted, but we wanted to speak up and say that it doesn’t have to be like this.”
The Forcks were heading to Orlando for a family vacation, bringing along three of their four children. Nathan says Lucy was very excited to meet Mickey Mouse. His daughter has spina bifida, a condition that confines her to her hot pink wheelchair. It was Lucy’s first time traveling through an airport, so she was holding onto Lambie, her squeezable stuffed animal.
As soon as Lucy passed through the TSA scanner, an agent pulled her aside.
“They said they needed to pat her down,” Nathan said. “They wouldn’t give her Lambie.”
Lucy isn’t a fussy child, according to her dad. But she was deeply upset by what was happening. In the YouTube video, the sound of her cries pierced through her parents’ back-and-forth with the TSA.
The agent explained that she needed to check Lucy’s wheelchair for any kind of explosives.
She tried to get Annie to stop filming, telling her, “It is illegal to do that.”
“The problem is, I don’t allow anyone to touch my little daughter,” Annie said on the video. “It just seems ominous for you guys to suggest that you have to do this in the dark. That in and of itself seems very inappropriate.”
Nathan says that the family was forced to wait around 30 to 45 minutes while the TSA figured out how to handle the situation.
While they waited, Annie tried to console her daughter.
“Hey, Lucy?” Annie said on the video. “You’re special. We get to do special stuff.”
“It’s heartbreaking because she was singled out just because she was disabled,” Nathan said. “If a cop came up and searched her on the street, that would be a violation of the Fourth Amendment. But because you’re in an airport, it’s okay.”
Lucy was eventually allowed to leave without being patted down. Nathan said he later received a call from TSA officials apologizing for the incident.
According to the policies listed on its website, the TSA screens wheelchair-bound passengers by patting them down, then performing a thorough check of their personal wheelchairs.
A TSA spokesperson told Fox News that it’s okay to film TSA security checks as long as it doesn’t interfere with the screening process.
“TSA regrets inaccurate guidance was provided to this family during screening and offers its apology,” TSA said in a release to The News. “We are committed to maintaining the security of the traveling public and strive to treat all passengers with dignity and respect. While no pat-down was performed, we will address specific concerns with our workforce.”
Nathan said that he doesn’t want workers to lose their jobs because of the incident. He just doesn’t think it’s fair that his toddler had to go through an added layer of security.
“Because you’re in a wheelchair, you’re subjected to certain types of scrutiny that other people don’t face,” Nathan said. “But most people accept the idea of a pat-down these days.”
By the time the Forcks reached Orlando, they had learned what to expect. Nathan carried Lucy in his arms while walking through the scanner. Her wheelchair was inspected separately.
Despite the rocky start, Nathan said that Lucy was in high spirits by the time she reached Disney World. And her dream came true — she got to meet Mickey before she left.
“We had a great time,” Nathan said. “At that point, we were just focusing on the good.”
On a mobile device? Watch the video here.
