Air traffic control room fight at Reagan National Airport leads to arrest
The employee was put on administrative leave amid the investigation.ByLeah Sarnoff
April 1, 2025, 3:46 PM
FAA investigating close call at Reagan National AirportA close call between a Delta passenger plane and Air Force jets triggered a collision warning near Reagan National Airport, just two months after the fatal collision there.
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.
The air traffic control tower at the Reagan National Airport on February 03, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
MORE: DC plane crash: A timeline of the deadly collision
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.
MORE: Pilots warned of safety concerns at Reagan National Airport for decades
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.
ABC News' Clara McMichael contributed to this report.
