Air Traffic Controller Arrested For Fighting Inside Control Room

An air traffic controller has been arrested in connection with a fight that occurred inside a control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last week.

Air traffic controller Damon Marsalis Gaines was charged with assault and battery.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority reported that its officers responded to a call about two air traffic controllers fighting inside a control tower on March 27.

The fight occurred just months after a regional jet and an Army Blackhawk Helicopter crashed in mid-air, resulting in 70 people dead.

JUST IN: We confirmed an air traffic controller was charged after a fight broke out inside the control tower at Reagan Nat'l Airport. Damon Gaines was charged with assault and battery. The FAA says he's on administrative leave. The fight happened Thursday night. More to come on… pic.twitter.com/LG3JhKOTAw

— Scott Thuman (@ScottThuman) March 31, 2025

Check out what Politico reported:

An air traffic controller has been charged with assault and battery in connection with a scuffle in the control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last week, airport police have confirmed.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said its officers responded to an incident on March 27 where controllers got into a fight at the control tower, according to media reports. One person, Damon Marsalis Gaines — who works in controller operations, according to LexisNexis — has been charged with assault and battery.

In a statement, the FAA said the employee involved is on administrative leave while it investigates the matter.

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

Here’s what ABC News reported:

A fight in the air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport, or DCA, in the Washington, D.C., area led to an employee being arrested and charged with assault.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a statement to ABC News that police arrested Damon Marsalis Gaines last week after reports of a fight breaking out in the airport’s control tower.

Gaines, 40, was ultimately charged with assault and battery, officials said.

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement that Gaines was put on administrative leave while the agency investigates the incident.

Further details about what led to the fight have yet to be released.

The arrest at DCA comes months after the deadly mid-air collision between a regional jet and an Army Blackhawk Helicopter that left 70 dead.

Sixty-seven people were on the American Airlines plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas on Jan. 29 and three Army soldiers were aboard the helicopter, which was on a training flight at the time, officials said.