A Dallas woman demanded an apology from the Transport Security Administration and a civil rights investigation after airport security screeners forced her to remove her nipple rings so she could board the plane.

Mandi Hamlin, 37, was stopped at the security checkpoint of the Lubbock, Texas, airport on Feb. 24 and after she passed through a large metal detector without problems after she was scanned by a TSA agent.

The handheld detector used by the TSA agent beeped near Hamlin’s chest. Then the female agent called over her male colleagues who told Hamlin that she had to remove the jewelry.
She asked whether she could show the female agent in private that she had nipple piercing so they would know she represented no threat.

"After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing, and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove," said Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, in a letter sent to the director of the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties.

Hamlin’s proposal was denied and she was taken behind a curtain, even though TSA policy says a "pat-down search" is enough. Behind the curtain, she removed one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring. By this time she was already shedding tears of pain, but asked the TSA agent to give her some pliers.

After removing the ring from her nipple with the help of the agent’s pliers, Hamlin was scanned again and allowed to board the flight to Dallas, although she still was wearing a belly button ring.

During a news conference, Hamlin used a mannequin to show how she used the pliers to remove her second ring. She said the male agents were snickering while she was torturing herself to remove the ring.

"The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary. The last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon," said Allred.

"I felt surprised, embarrassed, humiliated, and scared," Hamlin said.

"My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. The situation was totally out of control. I will not sit quietly. No one deserves to go through this."