TSA apologizes to boy forced to remove leg braces for screening at Philadelphia airport

TSA apologizes to boy who had to remove leg braces

PHILADELPHIA — The Transportation Security Administration has apologized to a boy allegedly forced to take off his leg braces during screening at Philadelphia International Airport.

Bob Thomas, a Camden, N.J., police officer, says it happened in March when he and his wife were flying to Orlando, Fla., with their 4-year-old son, Ryan.

The boy wears leg braces because he is developmentally delayed. Thomas says a screener told the family the boy had to take off his braces.

The case was featured in a column in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis says the agency’s regional security director apologized to the Thomases on Friday.

Davis said the agency has no reason to doubt the family’s story. She says there are other ways to screen people with leg braces.