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September 15, 2002
MIAMI -- A worker at Miami International Airport was fired after a videotape showed him discharging the pepper spray that forced an evacuation at the airport in August, officials said.
The unidentified American Airlines ground security coordinator was fired for not admitting that he caused 43 people to suffer respiratory distress, the Miami Herald reported Saturday. The alert prompted authorities to shut down the concourse for three hours on Aug. 21 and search for a possible biological threat. The man kept silent through the whole ordeal.
A police officer found the pepper spray key chain, which had been confiscated from an American Airline captain's flight bag the same day. The pepper spray was taken to the concourse check point, where it was released and affected screeners.