Baby is Sent Through XRay Machine at LAX

from the Los Angeles Times

A woman going through security at Los Angeles International Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and slid it into an X-ray machine. The early Saturday accident — bizarre but not unprecedented — caught airport workers by surprise, even though the security line was not busy at the time.

A screener watching the machine's monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt. The infant was taken to Centinela Hospital, where doctors determined that he had not received a dangerous dose of radiation. The woman spoke Spanish and apparently did not understand English. She initially didn't want the baby transported to a hospital, but security officials called paramedics and insisted that the child be examined by a doctor. The grandmother and the child were subsequently allowed to board an Alaska Airlines flight to Mexico City.