Chicago Aviation Security Chief Fired Weeks After United Airlines Scandal

The security chief of the Chicago Department of Aviation at O’Hare International Airport was fired weeks after the United Airlines scandal in which a passenger was dragged off a flight — but not for reasons related to that incident.

Jeffery Redding, 54, was terminated Thursday from his position as deputy commissioner, six days after the Chicago Tribune reported on a “confidential” memo that detailed claims of sexual harassment he allegedly committed while working for the Illinois Tollway. Redding was fired from that position in August 2015.

Chicago aviation commissioner Ginger Evans told the Tribune that he “interviewed well” ahead of his hiring last year, but he did not disclose the memo, telling her instead that he was “swept out by an incoming administration.”

The memo, written by an assistant attorney general for the state, said that a woman, who had been working as a toll collector, accused Redding of pressuring her for sex and money in exchange for “work-related favors.”

“That’s not true, that’s not true, that’s not true. That’s absolutely not true,” Redding told the Tribune, before he was fired almost a week after the report was published.

His firing came on the same day David Dao, the passenger who was injured when Chicago aviation officials dragged him from his plane, settled with United for an undisclosed amount of money.