MIAMI – A Canadian man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to assaulting two Transportation Security Administration officers in a late-December incident at Miami International Airport after reaching an agreement with prosecutors, according to online records.
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Authorities said Cameron Dylan McDougall, 28, of Toronto, had been kicked off a flight a day before the attack at the MIA security checkpoint.
He faces up to a year in prison on each of two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees.
Miami-Dade court records show he still faced state charges in connection with the Dec. 28, 2024 incident as of Tuesday.
McDougall was only in South Florida because of his actions on a flight between Panama and Canada, court documents state.
Authorities said “physically struck another passenger” in the midst of a Dec. 27 Copa Airlines flight from Panama City to Toronto, leading the pilot to divert the flight to Miami.
McDougall was removed from the flight ― but not arrested ― and was told he could book a separate flight to Toronto on another airline, it states, leading him to buy a ticket for an Air Canada flight from Miami to Toronto the next day.
As he was at MIA to take that flight, authorities said McDougall cleared security and then, “without warning,” randomly hit another passenger at around 6:37 a.m. after he cleared security.
Prosecutors said he struck an airport security guard who tried to intervene, then, two minutes later.
He then struck an airport security guard who tried to intervene, then went back to the security screening area and threw three punches at a TSA supervisor, who dodged the blows, authorities said.
As another TSA officer intervened, McDougall fell to the ground and as the second officer tried holding him down, he hit the second officer in the face “at least three times,” causing minor injuries.
He was arrested soon after by officers with what was then the Miami-Dade Police Department.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced in Miami federal court on May 30.
In the pending Miami-Dade case, records show he was scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday.
Plea agreement: