Woman wins payout after screener exposed her breasts

Published 20 January 2011

U.S. woman was awarded a nominal sum from the government after a TSA pat down exposed her breasts; in May 2008, Lynsie Murley was singled out for an extended search during which agents pulled down her shirt and exposed her breasts; the agents then laughed and joked about the incident

A U.S. woman has won her lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after security agents exposed her breasts during a pat down at an airport.

Last year, Lynsie Murley, filed a law suit against the TSA for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She said the incident had left her “extremely embarrassed and humiliated.”

According to Murley, she was “singled out for extended search procedures” during which a TSA agent frisked her and “pulled her blouse completely down, exposing her breasts to everyone in the area.”

The TSA agents are also accused of being insensitive as they “joked and laughed about the incident for an extended period of time.”

After leaving the security line and regaining her composure, she returned to the checkpoint where she was told by a male TSA agent that he wished he had been present for the event and according to Murley, he said that “’he would just have to watch the video.”

These events took place in the Corpus Christi airport in Texas in May 2008.

After giving her deposition to government lawyers, Murley was awarded a nominal sum from the government.

It is unclear how much she was awarded, but according to her lawyer, Jerry McLaughlin, it is a small amount.

McLaughlin says that Murley “was never interested in the money”, and that she “would not have filed a lawsuit if TSA officials had simply sent her a letter of apology.”