Treatment of the Handicapped

Treatment of a Disabled Passenger

____ ____, Supervisor

interaction with difficult passenger on ____ (date).

I am writing to explain the details of the incident involving a passenger with a prosthetic leg. During this incident I was working at security checkpoint ____, and I performed a regular security inspection. Based on the passenger's behavior, I made a judgment which goes against standard OSO procedure, but which I felt was reasonable considering the circumstances.

On the day of the incident, the male passenger approached the metal detector and asked my colleague, ____, if he should remove the prosthetic leg on his left side. ____ replied that he could keep it on and that someone would be with him shortly to perform the screening. He then indicated a chair for the passenger to sit down.

A few minutes later I went to perform the screening. I began by asking the passenger if he would like a private screening, to which he replied that it was not necessary. I then explained that if he declined the private screening, it would have to take place in public. He nodded and I proceeded with the screening, asking the passenger to lift his left pant leg. He refused, saying that I was targeting him because of the prosthesis. I explained that I was following standard procedure and I again offered him a private screening.

At this point the passenger became impatient and made motions to remove the limb. I asked him to remain calm and to please allow me to finish the screening; I also stated that unless he allowed me to do my job, he would not be permitted to pass through the security checkpoint. He then accused me again of targeting disabled people.

Finally, I called ____, who restated the screening procedure to the passenger. I then decided to require a private screening, because I deemed the passenger's behavior suspicious, and because I did not want him to cause any more disturbances. I explained to the passenger that because of his failure to cooperate, he would have to accompany me to the screening room.

____ and I escorted the passenger to the screening room and asked him to remove the prosthesis, which he did. We followed the procedure for obtaining explosive trace samples. The device did not alarm the explosive trace machine so we gave the passenger time to reattach the prosthesis and escorted him back to the security checkpoint, where he departed for the gates.