Video has been released of the moment a man bulled his way through a security checkpoint at Atlanta’s busiest airport only to have a bystander tackle and subdue him within seconds.
Police released the security video footage, obtained through a public records request by Fox 5, which documents the incident on the morning of October 30 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, ranked as the world’s busiest airport.
Fox5 identified the suspect as 40-year-old Fabian Leon, who was later charged with simple battery and avoiding security measures, the outlet reported Thursday.
In the airport video, Leon appears to rush through the airport on his way to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint. As he approaches the checkpoint, Leon appears to aggressively force his way through a sliding door, knocking a man to the ground.
According to the report, a TSA officer yelled “breach,” prompting a good Samaritan named Mark Thomas to turn around. The video shows Thomas grabbing Leon and then quickly body slamming him to the ground.
“I saw him knock over the first dude and then a TSA agent tried to grab him, and once he was going to get past me, I was just like, okay, I’ll just take over if I can,” Thomas told Fox 5.
Thomas said that after taking Leon to the ground the man’s demeanor did not match his aggressive act.
“He was very soft-spoken,” Thomas told Fox 5. “He just kept saying, ‘Oh, I’m okay, I’m okay, let me up, let me up, I’m okay’. It’s like, kind of clear, that he was sort of detached from the entire situation.”
After Thomas’s intervention, officers took over and restrained Leon in a chair. TSA told the outlet that three officers were also assaulted in the incident.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.