Accused TSA groper says touching was unintentional

AP

Yukari Miyamae, 61, is seen in this undated booking photo in Phoenix provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

By Rebecca Ruiz, Senior editor, msnbc.com

Yukari Miyamae, the 61-year-old Longmont, Colo., woman recently accused of groping a Transportation Security Administration officer at the Phoenix airport, told a local radio station that the incident was unintentional.

Miyamae said that she?had been?abducted for several hours at age?7 and reacted to the agent out of a fear of being touched by strangers.

"I have a very strong sense of endangerment. I have a high alert system for my safety," Miyamae told the Boulder, Colo., radio station KGNU.?

Miyamae's interview was reported by the Boulder newspaper Daily Camera.

Miyamae was arrested after the July 14 altercation and was facing a felony count of sexual abuse. After reviewing the case, prosecutors declined to press charges.

The Internet quickly came to Miyamae's defense in the days after her arrest, with many commenters citing their anger about aggressive airport pat-downs.

Miyamae, though, told KGNU she was not trying to make a statement. She had wanted to avoid both a pat-down and a full-body scan and instead go through a metal detector, but a TSA agent allegedly told Miyamae that a pat-down was necessary.

Miyamae said that she accidentally touched the agent's breast when reaching out to stop the agent from conducting the pat-down.

"It was an instinctual moment," Miyamae said. "I just wanted to keep my space, my personal space from this oppressive presence."

She supports efforts to keep airports safe, but said the manner in which pat-downs are conducted can be upsetting.

Miyamae said that a pat-down on her return trip to Colorado brought her to tears ? and also brought the attention of a sympathetic TSA screener, who warned her about a passenger who had recently been arrested at a screening checkpoint.

"I told her, 'That was me,'" Miyamae said. "There was a conversation, an attempt to relate to me as a person. So much different than being treated as a thing or an animal."

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Rebecca Ruiz is a senior editor at msnbc.com. Follow her on Twitter.

Source: http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/28/7187024-accused-tsa-groper-says-touching-was-unintentional

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