A federal judge rules against a woman who claimed impropriety by Tulsa airport screening officials.
U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan ruled against Rhonda Mengert on Thursday in the Northern District of Oklahoma. Mengert claimed false arrest and emotional distress after she was forced to remove a feminine hygiene product at the direction of TSA workers in May 2019.
Mengert, who according to her lawsuit is a grandmother cleared as a low security risk through a TSA program, was pat searched by a TSA official after a scan showed an object near her groin area.
A male TSA employee told Mengert she was free to leave when a trace explosives test came back negative, but the female official who searched Mengert wanted further investigation.
Mengert was forced to remove a sanitary pad after being taken to a private room at the Tulsa airport. Eagan’s opinion notes that Mengert was offered a privacy drape but refused. After saying something to effect of, “Are you kidding me?” Mengert showed the TSA officials her pad.
“Literally millions of women in the United States wear such items on any given day, and therefore finding one during a TSA pat-down is not at all an uncommon occurrence,” notes Mengert’s complaint.
Mengert’s emotional distress claim was previously dismissed.
Eagan ruled on the false arrest claim in a summary judgement for the feds, saying Mengert’s freedom was not harmed by the less than ten-minute encounter.