SAN DIEGO — A horrific fall in a San Diego Airport Transportation Security Administration line left a woman with a brain injury.
The fall was caught on camera and showed TSA agents leaving it to her husband and other passengers to help instead of rushing to her aid.
The Rein’s filed a lawsuit naming TSA and The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, claiming negligence.
Luann Rein said she had a fear of flying from a previous incident, and now she is more traumatized. Disturbing security video shows she had a terrible fall while in the TSA line at the San Diego International Airport, and she said it could have been prevented.
The Rein’s attorney shared security video from inside the airport with CBS 8.
It showed on February 17, 2022, a 68-year-old woman fall to the ground in a TSA line at the San Diego International Airport.
“I'm like, ‘Oh, my God,’ I mean, I could completely see that she's flat out, she's not moving. She's like out, gone,” said Don Rein, Luann’s husband.
As her husband tried to help, TSA did not rush to help; passengers, including a nurse, rendered aid.
“I was just, at that point, happy to have somebody kind of supporting me and of being there,” said Rein.
The Rein’s said while they were going through TSA Precheck in Terminal 2, Luann was told to put her metal cane on the conveyor belt, but Don said her shoes set off the metal detector.
Don said the TSA agent pointed and told her to take off her shoes.
“My first thought was to look for a place to sit down or something to lean against,” said Rein.
They couldn’t find a chair or anything stable.
Luann, who has Parkinson’s, needs the cane for support; instead, she used her husband and the stanchion to hold herself up while her husband tried to remove her shoes.
“It's very disturbing,” Don Rein. “I still see that [on video] boom, on the ground, and then seeing her just flat out.”
Luann suffered a concussion and still has cognitive loss, headaches, and brain fog.
She can’t explain what happened, and even watching the video doesn't recollect her memory.
“I don't remember anything for 24 hours. I don't remember going to the hospital. I don't remember the ambulance. I don't remember the actual fall,” said Luann Rein.
As Luann laid there with a bloodied head, the video showed no additional TSA rendered aid.
A minute later, a TSA officer offered them a chair.
“What does she think I was going to do? Sit on the chair and relax?” said Rein.
As they waited eleven minutes for medical personnel to arrive, someone is seen in the corner of the screen opening and closing the door, which still didn't help.
“The bottom line is, again, if we have a chair, this doesn't happen,” said Lincoln Horton, “It was completely avoidable.”
A TSA insider told CBS 8 the agents violated many policies in this case, including not providing a wooden cane after her metal cane was cleared through security. They also said more agents on scene should have engaged and provided some help.
“I don't want it to happen to somebody else,” said Luann Rein. “This could have happened to anyone. I think you don't have to be handicapped.”
The San Diego Airport Authority and TSA said they don't comment on pending litigation.
Editors Note: The first version of this story said a Harbor Police Officer offered Luann Rein a chair when it was in fact a TSA officer.
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