US mum seeks $133,000 compensation after disabled teen is beaten, jailed, by airport security
Mel Buttigieg - Yahoo News on July 3, 2016, 6:02 pm
Tennessee teen Hannah Cohen was thrown to the ground then jailed when she became startled during a flight home from brain surgery. Picture: Supplied
A partially blind, deaf and paralysed teenager flying home from brain tumour treatment was slammed to the ground, received a bloodied face and thrown in jail when she became startled going through airport security.
Hannah Cohen was 18 when she was returning with her mother Shirley from Memphis international airport to Chattanooga in southeastern Tennessee on 30 June, 2015 - a trip Shirley says they have done many times before without issue.
The young woman set off a metal detector at a security checkpoint and became confused when armed agents approached her and grabbed her arms, startling her, the Guardian reported.
The girl’s mother was waiting at the other side of the security gate, wearing a mobility boot to nurse a broken foot, when she saw the harrowing incident unfold.
She said she hobbled to a security supervisor and told them: “She is a St Jude’s patient, and she can get confused.
“Please be gentle. If I could just help her, it will make things easier.”
Security agents told Hannah they needed to take her to a “sterile area” to do a further search.
The 18-year-old-girl, who is partially blind and deaf in one ear, was left bleeding from the face when she was detailed by airport security. Picture: Supplied
She said she was afraid, and suggested she remove her sequined shirt which appeared to be triggering the alert, as she had another top underneath.
But officers allegedly laughed at her and instead called for backup.
When armed security arrived, Hannah became afraid. Her mother said the brain tumour left her partially deaf and blind in one eye, so she was startled easily.
“I tried to push away,” Hannah said. “I tried to get away.”
Her mother alleges the guards detained Hannah and slammed her body to the ground, with her face hitting the floor, leaving the teen “physically and emotionally” injured.
“They wanted to do further scanning, she was reluctant, she didn’t understand what they were about to do,” her mother told Memphis TV station WREG3.
"She's trying to get away from them but in the next instant, one of them had her down on the ground and hit her head on the floor. There was blood everywhere."
“Another guard pushed me back 20ft, in my boot, and told me I couldn’t be nearby,” the girl’s mother told the Guardian.
Shirley said she quickly grabbed her phone from the security conveyer belt and took a photo of her distraught daughter on the ground.
The terrified young woman was then arrested and taken from the airport in handcuffs to jail, with blood dripping from her face. She was released 24 hours later.
Her family has filed a $133,000 lawsuit against the US Transport Security Administration and Memphis-Shelby County airport authority claiming Hannah was not given adequate accommodation to be screened, and alleging she was discriminated against her because of her disability.
