Is That Spinoza In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Armed Professor Arrested at Airport
Ohio State professor Frank Holtzhauer was arrested while carrying a fully loaded handgun through a Port Columbus Airport security checkpoint yesterday morning, said Scott Lorenzo, the Transportation Security Administration Manager at the airport.
Shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday, Holtzhauer approached Port Columbus' Concourse C checkpoint when a TSA screening machine noticed an unfamiliar image in his carry-on bag, Lorenzo said. Officers arrested Holtzhauer after verifying he was in possession of a loaded .32 caliber hand gun, Lorenzo said.
Holtzhauer said he did not intend to bring the firearm on his Delta flight and forgot it was in his bag, Lorenzo said.
Lorenzo said the firearm contained eight rounds of ammunition, one in the chamber and seven in the clip. He also had an additional clip of seven rounds, Lorenzo said.
OSU spokesman Elizabeth Conlisk said it was an innocent mistake and Holtzhauer is quite embarrassed.
"I would leave it at that," Conlisk said.
Holtzhauer's trip to Boston to teach a seminar on hospital security was quickly re-routed to the U.S. District Court, where he was held until his appearance before a judge at 1:30 p.m., Lorenzo said.
Holtzhauer was arrested because attempting to bring a firearm onto an aircraft is a violation of the federal law, Lorenzo said. The concourse was shut down for approximately five minutes, but neither Delta nor Southwest Airlines experienced any delays in operations at their concourse, according to the TSA manager.
Holtzhauer serves as an assistant to the dean and as director of the Office of Public Health Practice at the School of Public Health. He also serves as an assistant clinical professor at OSU and as the public health practice coordinator to the Association of Schools of Public Health, according to the School of Public Health's Web site.
According to the Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center, Holtzhauer received his bachelor's degree at OSU in biological sciences in 1971. Ten years later, he earned his master's at OSU in preventative medicine. He obtained his doctorate in preventative medicine at OSU in 1989.
Lorenzo said he suggests all travelers visit the TSA Web site, www.tsa.gov, to obtain information on what can and cannot be brought aboard an aircraft at the Port Columbus Airport.
"The Web site is there for everyone's safety," Lorenzo said. "We just want to make sure our passengers are safe. We also want to reinforce the public to just be careful."
From "Holster" Holtzhauer's faculty webpage:
Dr. Holtzhauer's areas of interest include a range of issues from public health workforce development to violence as a public health issue, Reye's syndrome, toxic shock syndrome, and infectious diseases including Legionnaires disease. Frank began his public health career as a field epidemiologist with the Ohio Department of Health and then moved thru [gevalt] the ranks to become the Chief of the Division of Epidemiology.
|