A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer has been removed from his post at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) after video footage of him aggressively handling a working dog surfaced online.
The video, originally uploaded on Reddit on May 7, 2023, has made the rounds on various social media channels, including Twitter.
The video shows a TSA officer walking a dog identified as part of TSA’s explosives detection team inside one of DTW airport’s terminals.
Throughout the one-minute-26-second video, the TSA officer can be seen walking the dog back and forth, aggressively pulling and yanking on the dog’s leash. At one point, the dog’s legs can be seen lifting off the ground from the force of the leash-pulling.
Horrified netizens have expressed their disgust and disapproval of the TSA officer’s handling of the dog.
B.W.Y. Canine, a company that offers professional dog detection training, reposted the video to its Twitter account @BWYK9, saying, “My main thought is, if he treats this dog like this in full view of the public, how does the dog get treated at home? I hope that this TSA handler is disciplined and removed from his post.”
“That’s a German Shorthair Pointer. They are super velcro dogs. They basically live to be next to their owner at all times and just want to work to make them happy. Think of an exponential lab with extreme athletic ability. That pup wants nothing else but to make that dude happy and he treats the pup like that,” Reddit user robvmay wrote.
TSA released a statement on Twitter saying that the TSA handler seen in the footage has been removed from handling duties “pending completion of an investigation”.
“The behavior displayed by this handler is unacceptable and not within the high standards we hold our officers to,” the agency said.
The dog was taken to a veterinarian for a wellness exam.