Girl, 10, Gets 2-Minute TSA Patdown Over Juice Pouch

A 10-year-old California girl was patted down for almost two minutes by a TSA screener at the airport in Raleigh, NC, on Dec. 30, and her dad is fuming. Kevin Payne and his daughter, Vendela, were on their way home to San Diego at the time, and Vendela had accidentally left a Capri Sun juice pouch that exceeded the 3oz carry-on liquid limit in her luggage, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. That led to a swab of her bag, which resulted in a false-positive for explosives, which in turn led to the pat-down—during which a female screener "touched the girl's buttocks and groin repeatedly," the Union-Tribune notes.

"She just had a completely blank stare on her face. I could tell it was very uncomfortable for her," Payne tells NBC News. Adds Vendela, "What was going through my mind is 'This is annoying. I don't like this. I want to run out the door.'" But TSA says in a statement that proper protocol was followed, and adds that a cellphone alarm also went off inside Vendela's bag during the incident and required additional screening. Payne says the whole thing took about an hour. "I think they could've done a better scrutiny of what they were looking for prior to putting their hands all over my 10-year-old daughter," he says, adding that his congressmen plan to file a formal complaint. (More TSA stories.)