Presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was involved in a security incident on board a flight from San Francisco to Boston on Friday morning, according to a spokesperson for Christie's campaign.
Campaign staff confirmed that the presidential candidate was on a United Airlines flight when a passenger was removed before takeoff.
According to San Francisco police, the flight crew on board United Flight 1108 was alerted about a passenger taking cellphone photos of the crew. The crew asked the passenger to delete the photos, which he did, police said.
A second passenger saw a picture on the man's phone that showed a second cellphone, which appeared to be rigged with wires, according to police. The second passenger informed the flight crew of the photo, and the man with the cellphone was removed from the plane.
All passengers and luggage were re-screened, including the hand-wipe test for explosive residue, police said.
San Francisco police detained the passenger and ran a background check on him with the help of the FBI. According to police, the man has no criminal history.
All other passengers were allowed to board the flight, which took off around 1 p.m. The man who was held for questioning boarded another flight to Boston.
U.S. & World
"United Airlines flight 1108 departed at 1:59 p.m. PST, just over five hours late, following a delay that resulted from a passenger not complying with crew member instructions," United Airlines said in a statement. "We will be reaching out to our customers individually to apologize."
A Christie spokesperson said the passenger did not interact with the governor or threaten him in any way. The governor had been in California for a fundraising event.
"Governor Christie, an aide and a member of his security detail were traveling on a United flight from San Fransisco to Boston this morning when a passenger was removed from the plane before takeoff at the request of United Airlines," Christie's campaign said in a statement Friday afternoon. "At no point did Governor Christie interact with this passenger nor did this passenger pose a verbal or physical threat to the Governor. Any other inquiries about this matter should be directed to United Airlines."
There is no word on why the passenger was removed.
Christie was expected to land in Boston later Friday night. He will be in New Hampshire for campaign events Saturday and Sunday. Click here to see our interactive tracker for candidates' visits to the Granite State.
