TYLER (KYTX) - A woman wants you to avoid the same problem she went through after a run in with TSA security agents returning from her Labor Day vacation.
That woman says she wasn't allowed to get back to her daughter when they got separated.
Marissa Carey and her family were leaving the airport.
As she was exiting the secure area through the doors, her daughter sat down behind her.
She says she pushed the bags through the doors then went back to grab her daughter, but TSA says once you leave, there's no going back.
A happy, laughing 2-year-old girl, Marissa Clarey says this is a far cry from how Sadie reacted Tuesday.
The two were coming home from Catalina Island, she woke Sadie up to get off the plane, making it just in front of TSA workers before the tired tot stopped.
"Between trying to carry a 32 pound child, didn't want to walk anymore, and carry bags, it was too much for a mom," says Carey.
Carey says that's when she opened the doors just enough to push her bags outside to her husband..
"Then the big TSA agent gets right in my face and is saying, 'this is going to be a breach of security. It's going to be a breach of security. Stop,'" says Carey.
Carey says Sadie was just 10 feet away.
"By that time everyone on the plane had gotten off and was standing there in as much disbelief as I was that he wasn't letting me take those couple of steps," says Carey.
She says another woman had to bring her daughter to her.
In a statement from the TSA, "security protocol and the safety of the traveling public require that once someone leaves the secure area of the airport and enters the non-secure side, they can no longer return to the secure side, unless they go through the screening process at the checkpoint."
Something Carey says shouldn't have been such a problem, to pick up a crying child and keep moving.
"They should recognize they need to assess each situation individually and see there's a 2-year-old crying, screaming for her mom," says Carey.
Carey says the only advice she has for parents: bring a stroller and don't set anything down.
A TSA representative told me over the phone they will have to review the security tape to see what happened and look into the incident from there.
The TSA representative told us today that Carey did contact them, and they will respond to her directly after the investigation.
