Cops: LI man arrested after scuffle with airport officer

An unruly passenger arriving at Long Island MacArthur Airport was arrested after a scuffle with an airport law enforcement officer, airport Commissioner Teresa Rizzuto said Thursday.

The passenger, Arthur Griffo, 60, of Oakdale, pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault at an arraignment Thursday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Griffo was disruptive on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas Tuesday night, Rizzuto said, and the captain asked airport security officers to remove him from the plane when it landed at about 10 p.m. He was escorted off and continued to act aggressively, then tried to get back on the plane, she said.

"He wanted to go back to speak to the flight crew," she said.

In the ensuing scuffle, inside the jet bridge connecting the plane to the terminal, officer Robert Finn sustained an injury to his elbow, Rizzuto said. The exact nature of the injury had not been determined, she said.

Griffo could not be reached Thursday.

He was released on $10,000 bail.