It may be inappropriate, even dangerous, to say "bomb" at the airport, but is it a serious crime?
A judge on Friday ordered a Lincoln man charged with making terroristic threats at Eppley Airfield, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, to stand trial.
The man's attorney argued that the bomb comment "probably shouldn't have been said, but it doesn't rise to the level of a crime."
Sgt. Richard Hillman, with the Omaha Airport Authority, said Stephen K. Panarelli, 45, was angry about receiving a ticket for parking in the drop-off area in front of the terminal Dec. 30.
After complaining to officers at the scene, Panarelli began to walk back to the parked car. At that point, Hillman heard Panarelli say, "There might be a bomb in the back."
"I take that word very seriously," Hillman said Friday while testifying at Panarelli's preliminary hearing in Douglas County Court.
The ticket was issued while Panarelli and his fiancee were dropping off a friend at the airport about 9 a.m. Panarelli's fiancee had parked the vehicle in front of the Delta terminal while she went inside to use the restroom.
Panarelli's attorney, James Martin Davis, said his client said something along the lines of: "While you're giving a ticket, somebody could walk in with a bomb."
"A minor misjudgment of speech," Davis said, but not a felony.
Panarelli, an information technology employee at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said his friends and co-workers have supported him, but the felony charge "feels like my character has been slandered in a way."
Contact the writer:
402-444-3131, sam.womack@owh.com
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