The Baby With the Healthy Glow

If you don't understand the purpose of the X-ray machine, maybe you shouldn't be allowed to fly:

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, officials said.

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.

Officials, who declined to release the 56-year-old woman's name, said she 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.

I'm guessing that grandma didn't want to go to the hospital because the baby was legal and grandma wasn't. However, since hardly anyone in law enforcement in Southern California is willing to ask that question, we'll never know.