A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) explosive detection canine handler has been suspended from his duties after a video of him aggressively pulling a bomb-detecting dog at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport goes viral.
The video uploaded by CatchUpFeed on Twitter captioned: “This TSA agent is unfit to handle a dog” shows the TSA agent walking back and forth at the busy airport while aggressively yanking the leashed dog at every turn they make.
The video quickly became viral after being shared by another Twitter user, @stillgray. It has since garnered over 130,000 likes, almost 32,000 retweets and 29,000 replies.
Talking to FOX 2, Michael Burkey, owner of Michigan Dog Training and a former police canine handler, said the TSA agent obviously showed lack of training.
“We do turn-arounds that the dog has to adjust to the handler, but to just drag him [the dog] like that where he almost flips over is just inappropriate,” said Burkey.
He also continued saying, “The dog wasn’t ready to be put in that situation with that many distractions. There should have been more training of the dog and more training of the handler.”
In a statement, TSA addressed the issue and expressed their dismay over the agent saying, “The behavior displayed by this handler is unacceptable and not within the high standards we hold our officers to.“
TSA has since removed the agent from his duties and the dog was immediately taken to a veterinarian for a wellness exam.
