Police action delays Christie’s departure

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was on board a Friday morning flight from San Francisco to Boston that returned to the gate and was delayed for five hours so a passenger could be removed from the plane, officials said.

Christie, a Republican candidate for president, had boarded United Airlines flight 1108 scheduled for an 8: 32 a. m. takeoff, but the flight never left the airport, San Francisco International Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said. He confirmed that a passenger was removed from the flight and that police were involved.

The incident began around 9 a. m., after the man was caught taking pictures of the flight attendants, said San Francisco Police spokesman Officer Carlos Manfredi. Crew members asked him to delete the photos, and he complied.

As he deleted the photos, the passenger next to him saw a picture of a phone with a wires protruding from it on the man’s cell phone.

Deeming the photo suspicious, the passenger alerted the crew, which set the delay in motion, Manfredi said. Officers detained the man, checked for any criminal history and contacted the FBI to assure he wasn’t on a terrorist watch list.

The man was later cleared and boarded a different flight, Manfredi said. Earlier, rumors had circulated there was a possible threat toward Christie, which officers confirmed to be false.

“There was no direct contact with the governor,” Manfredi said. “I don’t even believe he knew he was on the plane.”

Airline officials took everyone off of the plane, and passengers had to go through security scanning again. Christie had been traveling with a member of his security detail, and his campaign team also reiterated the governor was safe.

“Governor Christie, an aide and a member of his security detail were traveling on a United flight from San Francisco to Boston this morning when a passenger was removed from the plane before takeoff at the request of United Airlines,” Christie’s campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said in a statement. “At no point did Governor Christie interact with this passenger nor did this passenger pose a verbal or physical threat to the Governor. Any other inquiries about this matter should be directed to United Airlines.”

United spokesman Jonathan Guerin told a slightly different story.

“United Airlines flight 1108 departed at 1: 59 p. m. PST, just over five hours late, following a delay that resulted from a passenger not complying with crew member instructions,” Guerin said. “We will be reaching out to our customers individually to apologize.”

Christie traveled to the Bay Area to attend a fundraising reception for him hosted by Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman at her Atherton home. He was also spotted having lunch Thursday the La Corneta Taqueria in San Carlos.

Last month, Christie was asked to leave an Amtrak train’s quiet car for making too much noise. In the Oct. 25 incident, Christie broke the “cardinal rule of the quiet car” by talking on his cell phone, said Samantha Smith, a Christie spokeswoman, who apologized on the governor’s behalf.