Man sues TSA worker over arrest for peanut butter bomb joke

A man has sued a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee for a run-in that began when the worker stopped him from carrying peanut butter and jelly in his carry-on luggage.

The plaintiff, Arizona resident Frank Hannibal, was traveling through New York's LaGuardia Airport when he was stopped at a security checkpoint for carrying bottles of gourmet sandwich condiments.

Hannibal was ordered to check the containers because oil had separated from the peanut butter on top of his jar, according to the lawsuit.

However, Hannibal was arrested because he joked to his wife that the TSA employees were "trying to confiscate my explosives."

Hannibal was charged with "falsely reporting an incident in the second degree," which is a felony, according to the court filing.

The charges against Hannibal were later dropped, but he sued the TSA employee and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates LaGuardia and other airports in the New York metropolitan area, for $5 million.

"As a result of the aforementioned false and malicious report made by defendant [TSA employee] Sanchez, plaintiff was placed under arrest, incarcerated for twenty-five hours and falsely and maliciously charged with having committed  a felony," said the lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District Court of New York.

The lawsuit alleges that because of his arrest, Hannibal was "deprived of his liberty; suffered severe mental distress, anguish, embarrassment and humiliation in front of his family and in a public place; and was forced to defend himself in a criminal proceeding, thereby incurring legal expenses."

The TSA doesn't comment on pending litigation, and the agency declined to comment on Hannibal's lawsuit Friday afternoon.

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