Normal Police Chief gets special treatment after trying to board plane with gun in carry on bag

Normal (IL) Police Chief Steve Petrilli (pictured above) got one professional courtesy after another when he tried to bring a loaded Glock 26 onto a plane in a carry-on bag this past weekend.  How specifically?

Well, first of all he wasn’t placed in handcuffs as most of us would likely have been.

Next, the helpful McLean County Deputies offered to let him take his gun out to the car or leave it with the airport until his return.  Do you really effing think that if you as an everyday gun owner did this that you would be allowed to take your gun out to your car after inadvertently carrying it into the screening area?

Lastly, the TSA furnished a photo of the gun and kindly redacted the serial number.  Again, do you think you would have gotten that level of service?

Petrilli told media that a TSA executive suggested that he would receive a warning and MIGHT lose his pre-check eligibility.

Kudos to the chief for owning up to the “mistake.”  But I’m skeptical the average person would have received similar treatment.

From WGLT:

Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli said he wants to turn a mistake into a teachable moment for his department.

Petrilli acknowledged that he carried a loaded handgun in a bag through a pre-check security screening at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed its officers detected a firearm inside a passenger’s carry-on bag during the routine X-ray screening at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The TSA said a McLean County sheriff’s deputy responded to the checkpoint and seized the loaded 9 mm Glock.

“If you make a mistake you own it,” Petrilli said during a meeting with reporters at the police station Thursday morning. He said his “heart dropped into my stomach” when he realized the gun was in his bag.

Petrilli said he “beat himself up over it” over the weekend and notified police department staff.

“Use this as a lesson so it doesn’t happen to you. If you are going to be traveling, put a system in place, which I am going to do,” he said. “I’m never going to use my bag for work ever again as my bag for travel.”

Petrilli said a TSA executive told him Thursday morning he would receive a warning and might lose pre-check eligibility.

A spokesperson for TSA said the penalty for bringing a firearm to a checkpoint can reach as high as $15,000 depending on the circumstances and pre-check revocation for at least five years.

Petrilli, who has been Normal’s police chief since 2022, is a 25-year department veteran. He said the trip was not for police department business.

Petrilli said officers gave him the option to store the gun at the airport or take it back to his car. He said the weapon was stored at the airport until his return.

This is the same department that performed a dogpile on an ISU coed in the Normal PD lobby when she refused to hand over her cell phone.  Because she didn’t want to waive her right to remain secure in her possessions, the cops dogpiled her, wrested the phone away and then charged her with resisting.

When a judge told the cops they shouldn’t have seized the phone and wouldn’t give them a warrant, they had to return the phone.  And they got a lawsuit for their troubles.  No word on if it’s been settled yet.

Here’s the video from that sordid incident from Lackluster.  It’s been seen 2.79 MILLION times.