TSA Detains Wheelchair-Bound 12-Year-Old

TSA officers say her hands tested positive for bomb residue
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 14, 2012 8:57 AM CST
TSA Detains Wheelchair-Bound 12-Year-Old
A screenshot from Fox 4's report.   (Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth)

TSA officers at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport detained a sick, wheelchair-bound 12-year-old for nearly an hour on Sunday, saying her hands had tested positive for bomb residue. It was something of a shock for Shelbi Walser, who has made the Dallas-to-Florida flight many times to get treatment for her genetic bone disease. "It was frightening. I kinda got mad," she tells Fox 4.

Officers wouldn't let Shelbi's mother, Tammy Daniels, get close to the girl even as she started crying, so Daniels took out her cellphone and started recording the incident. "You would think they would test her wheelchair, but they did nothing," she says. Bomb specialists arrived, but still there was nothing but hurried chatter, until finally they released Shelbi without explanation or apology. "I don't know what to learn from this one," Daniels says. "They need to go back to the drawing board." (More Shelbi Walser stories.)

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