Passenger Sends Small Dog Through X-Ray Machine
Terminal Madness
October 30, 2007
During any typical afternoon rush at Los Angeles International Airport, the men and women working the security checkpoint have to be ready for any threat or circumstance. Such was the case October 26 when Transportation Security Officer (TSO) Yvette Weekes, in the airport's Terminal 7, was busy screening carry-on bags on an x-ray display when she was startled with an odd but familiar image…a small dog on the x-ray belt and inside the machine.
Weeks immediately reversed the screening belt and the passenger then carried her dog through screening, as is standard procedure. The passenger told security officers that she thought "everyone" went through the X-ray screening.
This is not the case. Instead, people and pets pass though magnetometers or metal detectors – their belongings pass through X-ray screening.
The same type of incident occurred October 28 in the same terminal when Supervisory TSO LaKeith Marks identified a small Yorkshire terrier in the x-ray machine. The male passenger admitted it was the first time he had traveled with the puppy and that he was in a hurry.
With 2 million individuals traveling through our nation's airports every day, we see it all. And these events serve as a reminder that although the radiation from one of our X-ray machines is minimal and not harmful, no living being, whether a baby or a puppy, should go through the X-ray machine.
