TSA officials pat down young boy without shirt caught on camera

Maile Tua'one FOX 13

10:39 p.m. MST, November 21, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY —

TSA officials patting down a young boy with his shirt off was recorded by another flight passenger on his cell phone.

The video is gaining national attention after it was posted on Youtube and even Congressman Jason Chaffetz chimed in saying the TSA is "out of control". The 39 second clip shot at Salt Lake's International Airport shows a young boy with his shirt off as a TSA official with gloves on patting him down. The video was posted on Youtube by University of Utah student, Luke Tait. He describes what happened before he began recording.

"The father assisted a little bit and he stood by his son and held his arms out, trying to help the TSA agent kind of perform the pat down. He did that twice, had to hold his son's arms up," Tait said. According to Tait, the young boy did not set off the metal detector. "The father got a little upset and he tore his son's shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent and at this time, the TSA agent was yelling sir, sir at the man, the father of the kid," Tait explained.

Tait said he was later approached by a man in a black suit who did not identify himself and asked to delete the video. "When he approached me, he obviously thought there was something I had that was incriminating to TSA," Tait said.

Chaffetz said it is important to know all the facts before people rush to judgment but said it is clear that the TSA has crossed the line. "Between the whole body imaging and the pat downs and kids having to take their shirts off, it just seems like we're going a little too far," Chaffetz said.

The Transportation Security Administration would not comment directly but recently released a statement regarding the incident.

"On Friday November 19 a father and son presented at a TSA checkpoint at SLC. The child alarmed as he walked through the metal detector. The father removed his son's shirt in order to speed up the screening process. Once screening was complete, both proceeded to the gate for their flight," TSA's statement explains.