Mom sues TSA over request to strip search her transgender teen at North Carolina airport

A North Carolina mother is suing the Transportation Security Administration for a May 2019 incident at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in which she says her transgender teenager was pressed by employees to undergo a strip search. 

According to a lawsuit filed by mother Kimberly Erway, her then-15-year-old daughter, Jamii Erway, was ordered to undergo the strip search after she registered a "false positive" at a security checkpoint. After a brief exchange, a TSA screener informed the two that Jamii would have to have her genitals inspected in a private room, per the lawsuit. 

TSA's transgender passenger webpage states that upon entering the scanner, "the TSA officer presses a button designating a gender (male/female) based on how you present yourself." It also notes, "the machine has software that looks at the anatomy of men and women differently. The equipment conducts a scan and indicates areas on the body warranting further inspection if necessary."

The Erways are seeking a jury trial, unspecified damages and an injunction preventing a similar scenario from happening in the future. The mother is also suing an agency supervisor, identified as "Jane Doe."

The lawsuit states that TSA workers told Jamii she couldn't leave until she submitted to a search – a violation of TSA policy, the Fourth Amendment, and state law rights of Jamii. 

According to the lawsuit, a police officer was called over after Jamii didn't comply, which triggered her “panic, anxiety, fear, racing heart, shortness of breath."

In response to the airport incident, Kimberly Erway then rented a car and drove 600 miles to Rochester, New York, their home at the time. 

A TSA spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday, citing pending litigation.

Contributing: The Associated Press