ORLANDO, Fla. – An Ohio man was arrested Wednesday in Orlando after police say he tried to strangle an officer responding to a disturbance at Orlando International Airport.
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According to an incident report, police were called to the Spirit Airlines ticket counter at the airport shortly after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Responding officers arrived to find there was already a large group of people who “were becoming aggressive with Spirit staff and threatening them.”
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Officers observed some of the individuals yelling at staff at various ticket counters and some entering the space behind the counters.
As officers tried to calm the crowd, another Spirit employee called for help with a particularly aggressive customer, later identified as Edward Hariston, 41, of Parma, Ohio, according to the report.
The ticket agent said Hariston had assaulted him.
When officers approached Hariston, he was leaning over the counter arguing with a member of staff while a woman who was with him stood behind the counter at the luggage scale while also shouting at staff.
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When Hariston reached behind the counter and grabbed a computer keyboard, one of the responding officers grabbed his arm, according to the report. Police say Hariston grabbed the officer’s arms, pulled him down and tackled the officer to the ground.
While on the ground, the report says Hariston pinned the officer down and began to squeeze him.
“I began to feel dizzy and immediately unsteady as my airflow was restricted and I was beginning to lose consciousness,” the officer said in the report.
The officer was able to free himself when other officers arrived to help restrain Hariston, according to the report.
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According to the report, the officer says Hariston later made comments that he “let me live” and “could have killed me.”
Hariston was booked into the Orange County Jail on Wednesday on charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and disorderly conduct.
It is held there with no bond established.
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