WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — Connecticut Governor Daniel P. Malloy is being scrutinized after it was discovered he and his wife were allowed to bypass a security checkpoint at Bradley International Airport while carrying their son’s backpack. Malloy and his wife, Cathy, were bringing their son to the airport for him to fly back to his home in Los Angeles after Thanksgiving.
Security cameras at the airport show Malloy carrying his son’s backpack through a side door within the airport terminal while his son went through the normal security checkpoints without any luggage.
The decision not to have his son subject his backpack to typical security clearance has sparked criticism from airport personnel, according to the Hartford Courant. They also did not understand why the Malloys could see their son off at the gate as opposed to before the security checkpoints like all other travelers must do. One E-mail said that “this Governor is not above any law.”
Malloy has apologized for the mistake in judgement, saying that the family was running late to get their son to the flight.
“It was kind of an absent-minded mistake,” Malloy says. “And I am sorry. You know, to cause anybody consternation is not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to see my son off with his mother.”
Malloy admitted that it would have been “very easy” for their son to take his own backpack through security.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducted an investigation and found that the backpack was not a threat.
Read the entire report for all of the details of the incident.
