Blade found in passenger's shoe

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

A Virginia man traveling to Kaua'i with his wife and four children was arrested yesterday at Honolulu International Airport after security officials said they found a three- to four-inch box cutter blade concealed in his shoe.

Randall Rustick, 33, was arrested after a screener X-raying his possessions saw a metal object in the shoe and became suspicious, said Sidney Hayakawa, federal security chief for the airport.

It's the first time since the Transportation Security Administration began inspections in late 2002 that a passenger has been charged in Honolulu with a federal count of "attempting to board an aircraft with a dangerous, concealed weapon," Hayakawa said.

"We don't know what his intent was, but it's the concealment that was very disturbing," he said.

Rustick had put his shoes and other possessions into a bin for X-ray screening at a check station near Aloha Airlines about 10:45 a.m. when the razor blade was spotted under the inner sole of his left shoe by a TSA agent, Hayakawa said.

Following TSA protocol, the screener called for a supervisor, then a state sheriff stationed at the airport and finally a federal agent, and Rustick was taken into custody without resistance.

Normally when screeners find an obviously forgotten forbidden object on a person or in carry-on luggage, the passenger is offered the chance to relinquish the item and given a warning, Hayakawa said.

"In this case, there was clearly an attempt to conceal it. That's what was different," Hayakawa said. "It's one of the reasons why we ask passengers to take off their shoes to help with the screening."

Rustick was being held last night at a federal detention center near the airport.

Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the arrest did not cause any disruption or delays to airport flights.

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.