Airport security agent zaps runaway passenger with Taser
US airport security agents zapped an arriving airline passenger three times with a Taser electric gun after tried to re-board an aircraft to retrieve an item he left behind.
The incident happened at Sacramento International Airport when Edwin Barton, 26, apparently refused to complete an airport screening check. Having just arrived on an inbound flight, he told security officials that he needed to go back inside the airport’s secure area to retrieve some belongings.
The Sacramento Bee newspaper said authorities were still looking into what led Barton to “lose his cool” at the security checkpoint and end up receiving three jolts from a Taser and a journey to jail.
Barton arrived on a Southwest flight and walked out of the airport’s secure area and into the baggage claim area before realising he had left something on the plane, Sacramento County sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos told the paper.
When the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent looking after the gate wouldn’t let Barton run back to the plane, Barton became argumentative and, after being told to place his bag on a conveyor belt at the screening checkpoint, allegedly grabbed the bag and sprinted towards the boarding area with airport security agents in hot pursuit.
A sheriff’s deputy then shot Barton with a Taser after efforts to catch and subdue him failed.
After the incident, deputies could find nothing to explain Barton’s behaviour, Ramos said. TSA officials and the Sacramento County sheriff’s department said he was not carrying anything dangerous. There’s no suggestion he was affected by drink or drugs or was suffering any mental problem.
Maybe he was just fed up with bureaucratic hassle and momentarily “lost it”.
Written by : Peter Needham
