A Maryland Transportation Authority policeman has been suspended pending the results of a trial after he allegedly attempted to board a plane with his gun when he was unauthorized to do so.
Sgt. Christopher Lamb was charged with interfering with security procedures at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport when he allegedly boarded a Southwest Airlines flight April 26 with his weapon, according to MDTA spokesman Cpl. Edward Bartlinski.
A Southwest gate agent alerted MDTA police when Lamb requested to fly armed without the proper credentials, Bartlinski said. An MDTA supervisor responded to the gate to investigate the incident, removed Lamb from the flight and confiscated his gun, Bartlinski said.
MDTA police are sometimes assigned to work at BWI, but Lamb was there on personal business, Bartlinski said.
Police are allowed to fly with their weapons if they follow certain procedures, but Lamb did not obtain the necessary documentation, Bartlinski said.
“He went around security without the proper credential in order to carry his weapon on the flight,” Bartlinski said.
Lamb is suspended with pay and assigned to desk duties, Bartlinski said. It’s unclear how long Lamb has been employed by the MDTA.
Lamb’s trial is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. Aug. 30 at the District Court for Anne Arundel County in Glen Burnie, according to online court records. An internal investigation is also being conducted by MDTA, Bartlinski said.
Chaz R. Ball, of the Baltimore law firm Schlachman, Belsky & Weiner, is representing Lamb.
“It is a good-faith misunderstanding and we have all the confidence that this will be resolved either before the trial or during the trial,” Ball said.
The Transportation Security Administration has seized 19 firearms at BWI security checkpoints this year, making it one of the busiest summer’s in TSA’s history.