Mother battling breast cancer claims she was ‘violated’ by airport security

A MOTHER undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer claims airport security crossed a line when they patted her down.

Video shows a security agent grabbing Denise Albert’s buttocks and groin. Picture: Facebook

“I HAVE never been so humiliated or felt more violated in my life.”

Mother-of-two Denise Albert, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, was flying from Los Angeles to New York when she says airport security crossed the line.

She carries medical cream in her bag to treat infections associated with her treatment, and has a metal port in her chest following a lumpectomy.

The 41-year-old obliged when asked to take her shoes off, telling officers she had to sit down as she couldn’t risk touching the floor with open sores on her feet. They allowed it, but told her they’d have to pat her down — putting pressure on her body from head to toe.

At that point, Ms Albert — a TV personality — became upset because she wears a wig. She took it off, even though she never goes out in public without it.

Things went downhill fast.

Video of the incident, posted on Facebook, shows a female agent touching Ms Albert’s buttocks and groin, patting her legs down all the way to the ankle.

“They refused to help me. The woman reached behind me and forcibly and aggressively put her hands down my jeans in the back. At some point they offered me a room but wouldn’t let me put my boots on to walk there, which I can’t do barefoot especially because of my open sores and rashes from my treatment on my feet,” she said.

“When I kept asking why they needed to do all of this, they kept saying because I wanted to bring medical cream on the plane.”

However, it became too much when the woman tried to touch Ms Albert’s chest.

According to the Transport Safety Administration (TSA) website, officers should be gentle, and ask whether the passenger has any tender areas. However, Ms Albert claims they didn’t listen when she said her chest was sore.

“You cannot touch me there. You can’t touch me there, sorry,” she told the agent.

“What’s the issue?” a male agent intervened.

“I have breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy. I have a port in me. You can’t touch me there.”

“So, that’s part of the procedure. We have to clear everything. Like she was explaining, she’ll use the back of her hands. She’s going to use as much pressure as she needs to clear the area. That’s part of this. We have to clear the area,” he replied.

At that point, the video ends.

She became upset when the woman tried to touch the metal port in her chest.

Ms Albert claims at that point she chose to lift up her shirt — in public — so they could see her breasts and port, and the agents responded by calling the police.

Eventually, a supervisor arrived and took her to a private room for a soft pat down

“After that, it still didn’t end. Even though all of my bags went through X-rays without incident as well, they opened my bags, removed everything and another TSA agent joked about all of the eyelashes I had,” she said.

“I told her, it’s because I don’t have real ones from my cancer treatment. I would have thought at that point, the humiliation would have ended.”

In a statement to New York news outlet Pix11, where Ms Albert regularly appears as a guest, authorities said they are investigating the incident.

“TSA is currently looking into the specific details as to what occurred during the screening process to ensure our security protocols were followed. We regret any distress the security screening process may have caused the passenger. We will work with the passenger directly to address her concerns.”

In an update to her original Facebook post, Ms Albert confirmed they rang her to apologise for her experience, and tell her they will refresh training for employees on how to screen people with medical issues and disabilities.

“I hope no-one ever experiences this,” she wrote.

— With Fox News