A new surveillance video shows a suspect being body-slammed to the ground by a bystander after the suspect breached a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoint at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in October.
According to Fox 5, the surveillance video, which was obtained as part of a public records request, shows the suspect, identified as 40-year-old Fabian Leon, moving throughout the Atlanta airport before breaching a TSA checkpoint at roughly 8:30 a.m. on October 30. The outlet noted that law enforcement officials claim the suspect attempted to move through one TSA lane before being stopped and attempting to pass through a second lane.
In the video, the 40-year-old suspect can be seen pushing past a TSA agent and knocking the agent to the ground. According to Fox 5, another TSA agent quickly yelled “breach,” which led to a bystander, identified as Mark Thomas, grabbing Leon and body-slamming him to the ground before officials detained the suspect.
In a statement obtained by Fox 5, Thomas said, “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.”
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According to Fox 5, the TSA breach suspect allegedly told law enforcement officials that he had been taking drugs and drinking alcohol prior to the incident at the Atlanta airport. The heroic bystander also claimed that Leon appeared to be “detached” from the situation during the encounter.
“He was very soft-spoken, he just kept saying, ‘Oh, I’m okay, I’m okay, let me up, let me up, I’m okay’,” Thomas stated. “It’s like a kind of clear that he was sort of detached from the entire situation.”
The TSA confirmed that three officers were assaulted by the suspect during the October incident at the Atlanta airport, according to Fox 5. The suspect currently faces charges of avoiding security measures and simple battery.
After aiding TSA officials in the October incident, Thomas indicated that he would help out again in the future if necessary; however, he suggested that more law enforcement officials should have been present to prevent the breach from happening.
“I think more police presence should have probably been there, it shouldn’t have taken me to take him down,” Thomas said. “I don’t know how many checkpoints or people he got [past] before that.”