An air traffic controller based at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is facing criminal charges over an incident that took place Thursday night.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority did not reveal details of the incident that led to the arrest, according to CNN.
Damon Marsalis Gaines, 39, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, faces charges of assault and battery, the airport authority said.
“The employee is on administrative leave while we investigate the matter,” the Federal Aviation Administration said.
According to Politico, Gaines works in controller operations at the airport.
A report in the U.K.’s Daily Mail, which relied upon sources it did not name, said that on Thursday night, there was an argument in the control tower that escalated beyond words.
NEWS: Reagan National Airport police have charged an air traffic controller with assault and battery after a fight broke out in the control tower last Thursday.
Airport police charged Damon Marsalis Gaines of Upper Marlboro, MD. The FAA says they placed a controller on leave. pic.twitter.com/LkTdi8OXv8
— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) March 31, 2025
The report said that a punch was thrown, and one of the people involved was cut.
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An FAA representative offered few details beyond saying, “We are not confirming or commenting on the details of the open investigation.”
The Daily Mail’s source indicated that the control tower remains a tense place due to the January collision between a helicopter and passenger jet that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft.
“That facility is out of control. People are cracking because of what happened in January,” the source said.
The airport was the site of a close call Friday afternoon.
In that incident, a Delta Air Lines flight with 131 passengers and five crew members aboard flew near an Air Force jet, according to CBS.
Delta Flight 2983 took off for Minneapolis at about 3:15 p.m. as one Air Force T-38 jet flew near it.
🚨 Close Call at Washington (DCA): Delta A319 & USAF T-38 Jet 🚨
A tense moment unfolded at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Friday (28) when a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 (Reg. N342NB) taking off came into close proximity with a US Air Force T-38 jet… https://t.co/5CI7F2dnGO pic.twitter.com/nL78sNLkO7
— AirNav Radar (@AirNavRadar) March 29, 2025
The Delta flight “received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby,” and “air traffic controllers issued corrective instructions to both aircraft,” the FAA said.
The FAA did not specify how close the planes were to one another.
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