LITTLE ROCK — A 49-year-old Little Rock man has asked a federal judge to block the U.S. Transportation Security Administration from using the tough new airport-screening procedures on him, saying they violate his constitutional and civil rights.
Robert Dean is also seeking a temporary injunction because the “full body ‘pat down’” is “detrimental to [his] emotional, psychological and mental well-being,” according to the petition filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.
Reached at his home Tuesday, Dean said he has no immediate plans to fly but hopes to do so before the end of the year to see his girlfriend in Boston. Recently, he flew from Washington, D.C., to Little Rock via Chicago and had to undergo a full-body scan as well as a pat-down.
“I would have preferred it not to have happened,” he said. “You about feel like a criminal when it’s happening.”
Dean’s petition said the new procedures violate his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches.
The petition names Jerry Henderson, the federal security director in Arkansas, as well as the Transportation Security Administration and Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field, as defendants.
A spokesman for the agency declined to comment directly on Dean’s legal action.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” said Sari Koshetz. “In all cases where TSA has introduced [advanced imaging technology], the project has been a partnership between TSA, the airport and law enforcement.”
Little Rock National Airport has not yet employed the full-body scans, but Transportation Security Administration screeners do perform pat-downs as part of extra screening when passengers don’t get an all-clear when passing through the X-ray machines.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 11/24/2010