"Congressman Charged With Assault on Virginia Airport Worker"

Monday, August 20, 2007

Rep. Bob Filner Charged With Assault on Virginia Airport Worker
"I'm not going until I get my bag. You're treating us like animals." -
Congressman Bob Filner
Fox News


WASHINGTON -  California Rep. Bob Filner was facing charges Monday for
allegedly assaulting an airline worker at Dulles International Airport after
becoming upset that his luggage had not arrived at a baggage carousel.

Filner, 64, is slated to appear in Loudoun County, Va., General District
Court on Oct. 2. Court officials could not say whether the San Diego
Democrat had been served the summons yet to show up on that date.

According to law enforcement officials, Metropolitan Washington Airports
Authority police were called to the United Airlines baggage claim office at
about 6 p.m. Sunday evening for a report of an incident with a passenger
regarding his baggage.

"The individual allegedly attempted to enter an area authorized for airline
employees only, pushed aside the employees outstretched arm and refused to
leave the area when asked by an airline employee," according to airport
police.

"When MWAA officers arrived a few minutes later, the man had left the office
and was waiting in the area of a bag carousel. Officers interviewed him and
witnesses and released him. Before the individual left the airport, officers
advised him that the airline employee would be pursuing charges," the police
statement reads.

The statement says the airport worker filed assault and battery charges, a
class 1 misdemeanor.

Filner is on his way to Iraq to see the troops, his office said in a
statement late Monday, and will have a full statement when he returns.

"Suffice it to say now, that the story that has appeared in the press is
factually incorrect and the charges are ridiculous," the statement reads.

A source familiar with the incident told FOX News that when Filner's luggage
didn't show up in the claim area fast enough, he allegedly stormed into the
United baggage office and insisted on knowing where his bag was. The agent
was working with another customer and told him to wait.

The source alleged that Filner refused to step back and when the worker told
him to leave the office, he said, "You can't stop me." She replied: "No, but
the police can."

Filner allegedly pushed aside the agent's outstretched arm and proceeded
into an area off-limits to customers, where another agent was on the line
with police. The agent could be heard from the back room telling him, "You
have to go."

He supposedly responded: "I'm not going until I get my bag. You're treating
us like animals."

As the Democratic lawmaker grappled with the police, his bags arrived.
United Airlines issued a statement expressing regret over the incident.

"United regrets that the customer experienced a delay in claiming his bag.
The safety and security of our employees and our customers is our number one
priority, and we are fully cooperating with the authorities in the
investigation into this incident," the statement reads.

Filner, a founding member of the Progressive Caucus, is chairman of the
House Veterans' Affairs Committee, which has been dealing this term with
post-traumatic stress disorder issues and veterans patient care in the wake
of the Walter Reed Army hospital scandal, among other issues.

He is one of a handful of lawmakers who earlier this month opposed the
Defense Department appropriations for fiscal year 2006.

The eight-term lawmaker faced considerable criticism in the four-candidate
Democratic primary last year after a long-time rival accused him of
corruption for supporting a Mexican water-treatment company that gave him
large contributions. He also has paid his wife more than a half million
dollars for campaign consulting, a practice that is legal.

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