A man threatened a TSA agent at a Minnesota airport before trying to attack officers who were arresting him. cops said, according to media reports.
It led to multiple charges against 44-year-old Frank Towers, who was also shown in surveillance video stripping naked and masturbating at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport an hour before the violent attack, WCCO reported.
At the airport’s security checkpoint area Nov. 12, Towers said he was going to “kill” a Transportation Security Administration agent as he swung and threw a stanchion at the worker, according to arresting documents obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Officers tried to stop Towers, who told them he “did not have to stop … it’s a free country,” KARE reported. Towers was tased by the airport police officers but continued to try and attack the cops before he was subdued, according to a criminal complaint obtained by KARE.
It’s unclear why Towers made the alleged threats toward the TSA agent.
Police later reviewed surveillance footage, in which they found Towers was punching and headbutting TV screens at the airport earlier in the day, KSTP reported. He later was shown taking off his clothes and masturbating, then throwing a chair after he got dressed, according to KSTP.
Towers was charged with fourth-degree assault against a peace officer and making threats of violence, according to the media reports.
In previous cases, Towers is accused of throwing a knife at a roommate and hitting him with a hammer; hitting a separate person with a hammer and throwing a fire extinguisher at responding officers; and spitting and throwing “urine-soaked toilet paper” at deputies in a jail, Minnesota outlet Bring Me The News reported.
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