A U.S. citizen attempted to open an emergency door on an airplane on a domestic flight between Los Angeles and Boston and then attempted to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Francisco Severo Torres, 33, a resident of Leominster, Massachusetts, was knocked down and tied up with the help of passengers and arrested Sunday at Boston’s Logan International Airport when United Airlines Flight 2609 landed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. general in a statement.
Man tries to open an emergency exit and tries to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon. The incident happened on a United Airlines flight from LA to Boston, he was tackled by passengers on the plane and later arrested by authorities. pic.twitter.com/8jYUGbdfXm
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The man was charged with interfering and attempting to interfere with flight crew members using a dangerous weapon, the statement said.
He was remanded for a first appearance in federal court on Monday and awaits a hearing scheduled for Thursday.
The plane had about 45 minutes to land in the city of Boston when the crew received a warning that a side door of the plane was unlocked, the prosecutor said.
A flight attendant noted that the handle that locks the door had been moved about a quarter of the way from the fully locked position to the unlocked position and that the emergency brake lever had moved to the unlocked position, according to authorities.
The crew then re-locked the door and safety device – a basic safety precaution, as an aircraft’s door cannot be opened in flight, under penalty of depressurizing the cabin and killing passengers and crew.
Another flight attendant claimed to have seen Torres at the door and thought he might have been the one who tampered with it, so the crew warned the captain that that passenger was a threat and that the plane should land as soon as possible, authorities said. indicated.
It was then, according to the prosecution, that Torres got up from his seat, approached two flight attendants standing in the aisle and used the broken spoon, punched one of them three times in the neck, but caused no injuries.
The passengers knocked out Torres, who was immobilized with the help of the crew.
According to a prosecution document, Torres told investigators that he went to the plane’s bathroom and broke a spoon in half to make a weapon, then got out and went to the supply room, opened the security door, and tried to open it. aiming to eject herself from the plane, according to the document, admitting she knew that if she did, many people would die.
If the US citizen is found guilty of the charges, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Source: DN
