LOS ANGELES - Yesterday Faaaliga Fuiava was arrested curbside at the departure level of LAX’s Terminal 2, where airport police pulled him over after a passing motorist’s report of a hit and run that had just occurred in the Sepulveda tunnel. LAXPD found a loaded Glock semi-automatic pistol that Fuiava was attempting to retrieve from the center console of his car while also acting erratically. A 12-year-old passenger in the vehicle advised police that the gun was located in the console. Fuiava was arrested and booked for hit and run, possession of a stolen gun, outstanding warrants, child endangerment, a suspended driver’s license and resisting arrest.
The arrest of this dangerous individual was made by LAXPD’s Emergency Services Unit (ESU) officers, who were conducting high visibility patrols in the airport’s Central Terminal area.
“Officer Elmer Quevedo, a 9-year veteran with two years in the ESU, and Officer Pedro Preciado, a 6-year veteran who just joined the ESU four months ago, did their jobs well,” said Marshall McClain, president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association and co-founder of the American Alliance of Airport Police Officers. “They arrested someone who should not have been in our airport or out driving a vehicle; who was endangering a child and the rest of the traveling public. Alertness, professionalism and swift actions by our elite Airport Police officers resolved a potentially life-threatening situation that could have escalated into far more. It is still not known if the suspect actually had business at the airport, reinforcing why we need to be right every time as well as why we need designated airport police near security clearance areas.”
