Reagan National Airport air traffic controller charged with assault following incident inside tower

An air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been charged with assault and battery in connection with a recent scuffle inside the control tower.

The scuffle Thursday was work-related and other on-duty controllers had to separate two controllers, including one who threw a punch, according to a Washington Post report based in part on unnamed sources. 

Damon Marsalis Gaines, 39, of Maryland, was arrested Friday and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery “following reports of an incident in the ATC control tower at DCA,” said a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. 

Gaines was reportedly taken a northern Virginia jail, served with a misdemeanor summons and released, The Post also reports.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Gaines is on administrative leave amid an investigation into the matter.

The incident follows the midair collision January at the airport in which an Army Black Hawk helicopter and PSA Airlines regional jet collided over the Potomac River, killing 67 people.