Lawsuit: TSA agent purposely grope woman at NC airport

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A woman says in a lawsuit that a security screener at a North Carolina airport intentionally groped her.

The lawsuit was filed Feb. 4 in federal court against the U.S. government as well as the female Transportation Security Administration agent.

The lawsuit says the passenger was screened in June at the Asheville Regional Airport as she prepared to fly home to Los Angeles.

The suit claims she was singled out for a search. It also said the woman explicitly asked if the search involved touching her genitals, to which the agent said “no.”

The lawsuit claims the screener deviated from a normal search and directly touched the woman’s genitals after sliding her hand inside the woman’s shorts. The suit claims that the agent did so for “sexual gratification and/or for the purpose of humiliating” the woman in “retaliation for questioning the search.”

The suit says the woman filed a complaint with the TSA in September. But it says the TSA denied it, “indicating that it would not consider the claim without additional documentation for which they were not entitled.”

The woman is suing for damages and wants a jury decide the amount.

The TSA did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The agent’s full identity was not included in the lawsuit, and no lawyer was listed for her in the federal court docket.