The horrific images of commercial airliners exploding into the World Trade Center's towers were still raw in the national soul when a Gainesville bank officer and University of Georgia football fan made an impulsive decision that shut down the world's busiest airport.
Just two months after the terrorist attacks, Shane Lasseter charged down the up escalator at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, breaching security as he tried to make a flight for an out-of-town game. Hartsfield --- as it was named then --- shut down for three hours that Friday, Nov. 16, 2001. Hundreds of flights along the Eastern Seaboard were canceled or delayed. Traffic on I-85 came to a standstill. Hundreds of travelers bound for the airport on MARTA were halted at the College Park rail station.
The airport's giant terminal was evacuated and passengers swarmed in frustration around entrances under guard by camouflage-clad National Guard members. Wild tales circulated: someone had tried to smuggle a gun aboard a plane; Osama bin Laden's terrorists were running amok through the airport.
Instead, the culprit turned out to be a neighborly, church-going husband and father --- "just a little guy from North Georgia," a chagrined and regretful Lasseter told reporters a week later. He said he was bound for a Georgia Bulldogs game in Oxford, Miss., when he left the secure area. On his way back to his departure gate, he bypassed the security checkpoint, ignoring guards who shouted for him to stop.
Officials issued a Code Orange alert.
Lasseter was arrested that evening as he was trying to book another flight. Later, he apologized to everyone affected by his mad dash. " I deeply regret the inconvenience to a number of people," he said.
In March 2002, he pleaded guilty in Clayton County State Court to two counts of misdemeanor criminal trespass. He was sentenced to five weekends in the county jail, 500 hours of community service and a year's probation. The judge barred him from attending any UGA football games in the 2002 season.
Ed Tolley, an Athens attorney who represented Lasseter, said he resigned from Gainesville Bank and Trust after entering his guilty plea. Neighbors say Lasseter, now 37, works at another branch bank.
Tolley said Lasseter panicked because he left his then-6-year-old son with the boy's uncle at the departure gate while he returned to the lobby to retrieve his camera bag.
"He had left his ticket at the gate in a travel bag; that's why he could not get back through security," the attorney said. Lasseter, who completed his probation in 2003, did not return calls last week from the Journal-Constitution.
Former Clayton County Solicitor Keith Martin, in a recent interview, justified the airport shutdown and the prosecution of Lasseter.
"You have to wonder what would have happened if the police and (former airport manager Ben) DeCosta had not evacuated, and something horrible occurred," he said.
Martin said something good might have come from Lasseter's wild run. "We owe him a debt of gratitude," Martin said. "I think he, and we all, have learned a lesson, I hope we don't forget."
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