Lack of Direct Flights Out of Cleveland Flying somewhere out of Hopkins? Congrats, you can go to like eight places directly. While all your friends in bigger cities get direct flights, you’re stuck on two or three connections to reach your destination. Among the many reasons Cleveland is not a real city, this is up there. And we haven’t even gotten to the condition of the bathrooms. Credit: Tim Evanson/Flicrk CC

Back on Oct. 25, City of Cleveland Chief of Operations Darnell Brown left his laptop in his car at Hopkins. Trouble was he’d already been through airport security and he was worried about retrieving it and making his way back through the TSA inspection and still making his flight.

Of two obvious options — leave the computer or go get it and risk missing his flight — Brown took option three, which was to have Assistant Director of Port Control Fred Szabo take him around security.

The pair got caught for the big no-no, and after initially issuing a vague release saying that two unnamed city employees were suspended with pay following a security incident at the airport, the city identified the men and conducted a review, the results of which were announced today.

Szabo, the number two guy at the airport, will be suspended for 10 days without pay and Brown will be suspended for five days without pay. Additionally, for Szabo, “the following airport-authorized privileges are suspended for 90 days: escort privileges, on-airfield driving privileges and bypass access privileges.”

City Hall is having itself a month. 

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

2 replies on “Two Cleveland Officials Suspended Without Pay for Bypassing Security at Hopkins Airport”

  1. And lets not stop there! How about Budish for his outrageous property tax increases for 2019, and his never ending financial mismanagement at the county…and while were at it, Taxin Jackson for his 50% tax increase from two years ago that no one has seen any results from whatsoever! -Both of these thieves should be in jail too!!!

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