Originally published June 27 2013
NY pharmacist acts like TSA agent, gets slapped with $40M lawsuit for giving 'breast exam'
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) It could be a case of mistaken identity, but perhaps one New York City pharmacist thought he worked for the Transportation Security Administration and, like TSA agents, was permitted to feel up customers on a routine basis, all in the name of doing their job.
However one Lebanese fashion editor who happened to be in Manhattan recently on business had no doubts that pharmacists are not TSA agents, so when one from a Duane Reade pharmacy began touching her inappropriately while claiming to be giving her a breast exam, she wasn't buying.
But she is suing. To the tune of $40 million.
From the New York Post:
Hayat Ammouri, of Beirut, went to the branch of the drugstore chain at 575 Lexington Ave. on April 22 for medication, according to the Manhattan civil suit.
Pharmacist Monesh Hanoman, 26, of Brooklyn, offered to give Ammouri, 42, a free blood-pressure test, the suit states.
He then took Ammouri, a devout Muslim, behind a divider in the store and allegedly suggested she let him check her breasts for lumps, even though the store does not allow its pharmacists to perform such procedures.
'We regret this occurred'
According to court papers, "She agreed, reasonably thinking that this is a type of examination that could be offered by . . . a health-care professional wearing a white Duane Reade-issue robe . . . the distinctive dress of physicians. ... Hanoman then sadistically and perversely rubbed Ms. Ammouri's breasts and shockingly pinched her nipples for approximately four minutes."
Following the incident Ammouri, an editor for Laha Magazine, which appears to focus on lifestyles, went back to her room at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and informed her cousin about what had happened, asking if that was normal procedure. Upon hearing her story the cousin immediately contacted the store - and police. They were then informed by a supervisor at Duane Reade that Hanoman had since been fired, the Post reported.
In her suit Ammouri says the experience traumatized her. She also blamed the pharmacist's co-workers, whom she claims saw what was going on but ignored the abusive treatment and allowed it to occur.
"Things are settling in and she realizes she was sexually abused and molested," her attorney, Joseph Tacopina, told the paper.
A spokesman for Duane Reade said placidly, "We regret that this occurred." I'm sure they do.
Perhaps Ammouri wondered if what the pharmacist had done was "normal" because she is used to flying in and out of the United States and, quite possibly, she is regularly groped by TSA agents.
If that's the case she and her lawyer won't be able to file a lawsuit against that rogue federal agency because groping and feeling up passengers is what the TSA does best.
Remember the "Don't Touch my Junk" video produced by NaturalNewsTV? Or how about this one - the hilarious "TSA (Touch Some Ass) Help Wanted" skit, which detailed the absurdities and extent of the TSA's groping procedures? (http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=979D7B9F44BA6EAE0DF65B3DE6E4EE33)
The new normal
And all in the name of "national security." Here is a partial list of TSA abuses:
-- At Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, TSA agents found it necessary to grope a three-year-old wheel, chair-bound girl (http://www.naturalnews.com). En route with her parents to Disney World in Orlando, Fla. for a family vacation, little Lucy Schulte began to cry as agents demanded to pat her down and "screen" her wheelchair.
-- Karen Kaplan, a veteran journalist and assistant editor of the popular science journal Nature, was groped during an individual "security" search by a pair of TSA agents, one of whom placed her hand up Kaplan's skirt in a highly inappropriate location. (http://www.naturalnews.com)
-- Fox News host Geraldo Rivera complained in 2010 that he was "manually raped" by a TSA agent performing the infamous "pat down" procedure. He claimed the agent touched his junk, too. (http://www.infowars.com/geraldo-rivera-i-was-raped-by-the-tsa/)
And the list goes on. So it's entirely possible that Ammouri had been felt up so much by the time she got to the Duane Reade pharmacy it's no wonder she asked, "Is that normal?"
Sources for this article include:
http://www.nypost.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.infowars.com/geraldo-rivera-i-was-raped-by-the-tsa/
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