MIAMI — Let’s just say it was a small problem.
A TSA screener was busted after allegedly beating a co-worker who joked about the size of the man’s penis after walking through an airport security scanner, authorities said.
The May 4 incident involved Rolando Negrin, 44, and a group of other Transportation Security Administration employees who had taken part in a training session at Miami International Airport, authorities said.
Negrin and his co-workers had been training with new “whole body image” machines, which have sparked privacy concerns because they provide very revealing images of a traveler, when the TSA agent walked through the scanner, Miami-Dade Police Department said in a four-page complaint obtained by thesmokinggun.com.
“The X-ray revealed that [Negrin] has a small penis and co-workers made fun of him on a daily basis,” according to the report.
Negrin told cops he couldn’t “take the jokes anymore and lost his mind,” according to the police complaint.
On Tuesday, Negrin confronted fellow screener Hugo Osorno, 34, in an airport parking lot, saying he wanted to “resolve a problem” and get his co-worker to “finally respect him,” the report said.
But talk turned into a fight when Negrin allegedly pulled out a police baton and began beating Osorno.
A witness told authorities that Negrin told Osorno: “Get on your knees or I will kill you and you better apologize.”
Police said Osorno suffered “bruises and abrasions on his back and arms” as a result of the attack.
When Negrin arrived for work the following day, he was arrested on an aggravated battery charges.
“TSA has a zero-tolerance policy for workplace violence,” TSA spokesman Jonathon Allen said in a statement on Thursday.
TSA is currently adding body scanners to airports across the country despite debate about whether the machines enhance the safety of air travelers without without violating privacy rights. The move comes after a Nigerian man attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day last year using explosives hidden in his underwear.
With AP