Father outraged at TSA for pat-down of 10-year-old daughter

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Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Family upset over TSA pat down of 10-year-old girl at RDU
10-year-old girl being patted down by TSA at RDU

MORRISVILLE, N.C. -- A San Diego father was outraged after he says his 10-year-old daughter was subjected to a TSA pat-down he described as "inappropriate" and "invasive."

The incident happened at Raleigh-Durham International Airport as Kevin Payne's family was headed back home to California.

Payne said TSA agents at RDU found a juice box in his daughter Vendela's purse. He said the box and a false positive test for explosives led to the pat-down of the girl by a female agent.

Outraged, Payne recorded the entire incident on his phone.

"I thought it was incredibly inappropriate, very invasive and it really violated my daughter," Payne said on ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday morning.

"They just kept doing it over and over," Vendela added. "I felt very uncomfortable. I felt like screaming."

Payne said he plans on filing a complaint about the pat-down.

When asked for a comment, the TSA released a statement that said in part, "Screening procedures allow for the pat-down of a child under certain circumstances. The process by which the child was patted down followed approved procedures."

The TSA also said a cellphone inside the girl's bag alarmed, which required "additional resolution procedures."

"There has to be a line at some point, especially with small children," said Catherine Cary, a RDU traveler. "I understand that sometimes they are taken advantage of, but I think there has to be a better way."

"Especially for a child that age, because something like that could really have a negative impact on them for the rest of their lives," traveler Julie Cary said.