Mother livid about ‘horrifying’ airport security patdown

An American mother has posted an online video of her young son Aaron after he was subjected to a “horrifying” patdown by security staff at Dallas Fort-Worth airport in Texas.

Jennifer Williamson said her son was pulled aside despite the fact he did not set off any alarms and was forced to stand still for two minutes as a TSA officer ran his hands over his body.

Aaron remained quiet for the entirety of the patdown, but Jennifer said he was confused and distressed afterwards and feared he’d done something wrong.

“We have been through hell this morning,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “They detained Aaron for well over an hour at DFW. (And deliberately kept us from our flight… we are now on an alternate) We were treated like dogs because I requested they attempt to screen him in other ways per TSA rules.”

She said Aaron suffers from sensory processing disorder and she didn’t want him to be touched like that because of his condition.

While the patdown appears to be normal at first, the officer then repeatedly runs his hands underneath Aaron’s waistband on his shorts and around his groin.

The video has been shared thousands of times since Jennifer posted it and has garnered opinions from both sides.

While some say the TSA officer took it too far, others argued he was just doing his job. In light of the increased terrorist threat around the world, airports have beefed up security across all levels, including physical patdowns.

While the changes have been met with support by most travellers, there are some concerns that by pulling Aaron and other children aside for checks like this, they are missing the chance to catch more likely suspects.

Take a look and tell us what you think.

Do you think they took it too far here? Or were they just doing their job?