A 35-year-old Australian traveler is facing a federal charge after prosecutors say a confrontation in a secure corridor at Los Angeles International Airport turned physical and sent a Transportation Security Administration officer for medical evaluation.
Thomas Jesse Bingham, who was booked on a flight out of LAX, was arrested Monday and has been charged in federal court with assault on a federal officer. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison.
What prosecutors say
According to MyNewsLA, prosecutors say the incident unfolded Sunday in the sterile connector between Terminals 6 and 7, a secured passageway that links parts of the airport beyond security checkpoints.
An on-duty, uniformed TSA officer was exiting a restroom when Bingham allegedly approached and accused him of taking his backpack and passport, according to the filing. Prosecutors say Bingham then grabbed the officer’s uniform, yanked off his identification lanyard, grabbed and pulled the officer’s hair, and shoved him into a glass wall.
The officer later reported pain in his hand and back and sought medical evaluation, prosecutors said.
Charges and penalties
The case is being brought under a federal statute that covers assaults on federal officers. Under 18 U.S.C. § 111, assaults on federal employees span a spectrum of penalties: a simple assault can be treated as a misdemeanor, but when there is physical contact, the offense can carry a sentence of up to eight years in prison. More serious versions of the crime, such as those involving a weapon or serious bodily injury, can carry even stiffer penalties, per Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.
In Bingham’s case, prosecutors allege physical contact and have filed the more serious count, which can be pursued as a felony.
At the airport
Airport police arrested Bingham at LAX, and officers later found his carry-on bag and passport at a restaurant in Terminal 7, MyNewsLA reports.
Authorities released him from custody, but that was short-lived. He was re-arrested on Monday before he could board a flight to the United Kingdom and was expected to make his initial court appearance on Tuesday.
Why it matters
Violence in secured areas of airports tends to draw a swift federal response. Incidents involving TSA officers are treated as more than just workplace dust-ups because of the elevated security concerns inside sterile zones.
The federal attention is not new. After the 2013 LAX shooting that killed TSA officer Gerardo Hernandez, the gunman’s case became a national example of how seriously such crimes are prosecuted. He ultimately received a life sentence, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Authorities have repeatedly signaled that they intend to pursue cases involving on-duty federal officers aggressively. The charge against Bingham is now working its way through federal court in Los Angeles.
