Thaindian News

Nov 17 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Recently, humorist Dave Barry was pulled aside by TSA officials and told that he would have to undergo a pat down because the body scanner could not get a clear picture of his groin area. Melissa Block, a host on ‘National Public Radio’ interviewed Barry afterward, as he gave his account of what ensued.

As Block asked Barry exactly what had caused him to be chosen for the pat down, he explained that the officials at TSA informed him that he had a blurred groin. “Yeah. I was in that machine - like a phone-booth thing, where they make you hold your arms up. And then it sends a scan of your naked body to -they claim - a TSA person in another room. But it could be to Bangladesh - you don’t know where,” he lamented.

He went on to explain that they had let everyone else go… “Everyone else had a nice, sharp groin, I guess. But when I went through, they pulled me aside and put me in this - kind of like little pen. And after like - I don’t know - three or four minutes of standing there, I asked one of them: Why am I here? And he said, you have a blurred groin. And I went, what? Because you hate to find this out at the airport.” Barry said he was quite surprised to learn of this, since he had just had a very thorough physical two weeks earlier.

Barry then told the host what happened during the pat down. “And then while I was in there, the other guy with the boarding pass came in. And he says, oh, I’m a - you’re Dave Barry. I’m a big fan. And so I had this kind of surreal conversation with one guy telling me what a big fan he is, how much, you know, he likes my - and the other guy is groping me.”

TSA has defended their actions, stating that the pat downs make good security sense.