Posted on 12/10/2005 5:03:13 PM PST by WatchingInAmazement
A suspect is in federal custody after passengers say he threatened an infant and tried to charge the cockpit of an airplane en route to Honolulu. No air marshal was aboard, but seven passengers tackled and subdued him.
Passengers say the man's strange behavior started just a couple hours after Northwest Flight 91 took off from Los Angeles.
"He came up to first class several times, and at one point he really startled me... He came up to my left shoulder, and he got right in my face and he said something in Spanish -- he said something about medicine, like 'I need medicine,'" said passenger Linda Deckard from California.
She says the man even gestured threats toward a baby with a cell phone cord, and couldn't sit still. But thanks to one father's planning, a group of passengers are heroes to nearly 200 people on the flight.
"We got the word around first class that if he makes a move for the cockpit door, he's going down," said passenger Mike Deckard. "And that's just what happened. He made a move for the cockpit door and we were on top of him."
He and six others bound the suspect's hands and feet with a belt and cords from an on-board restraint pack.
"I think he's a hero," says Michael Deckard, age 13, about his dad. "I think he did a good job. Obviously he's watching a little bit of football with that tackle. Go dad!"
"If anybody's wants to try something, remember - there are 200 other people on the aircraft who are gonna stop you," Mike Deckard said.
The suspect is a 37-year-old Mexican national. He bit one man who helped tackle him -- a Honolulu Marathon runner who had to get a tetanus shot when they landed.
Passengers were questioned for a couple of hours after landing. The suspect is being held at the federal detention center.
"Damn straight and those heroes set the example. To propose "honoring" them with a red crescent pointed at Mecca is obscene."
I agree. This one is slipping under the radar.
I think they are heros. We all must be vigilant
Me and Bro are famous!
Here's another story. Just one of the many in every community in this country every day.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/051211/trial.shtml
Trial set for illegal immigrant linked to death of 8-year-old
By Sheryl Marsh
DAILY Staff Writer
smarsh@decaturdaily.com · 340-2437
The murder trial of an illegal immigrant, who authorities allege caused a child's death in a traffic accident a year ago, is set for Monday in Morgan County Circuit Court.
The district attorney's office plans to try Arturo Lupian for the May 2, 2004, death of Amber Merkl, 8.
Authorities allege that Lupian's vehicle struck the rear of a sport utility vehicle in which Amber was a passenger.
At the time, police said Lupian, 21, had a blood-alcohol level of .11, three points higher than the state's legal limit.
Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson denied Lupian's petitions for a bond. Lupian's attorney argued that he was entitled to a bond because the state did not charge him with capital murder.
Usually defendants facing felony murder charges may be eligible for a bond; however, at the time, Thompson said a judge may not allow a bond if the defendant is a danger to the public or a flight risk.
Lupian moved here from South Dakota and had a Tennessee driver license. Authorities determined that he is in this country illegally. Prior to the fatal accident Lupian was a construction worker.
Lawyers will select a jury Monday.
I remember in the months following 9/11, I was flying United from Chicago to Washington D.C.'s Reagan National. There were (and are) special security measures for all inbound commercial flights to Reagan. 30 min before landing ALL passengers are required to be seated and buckled in their seats, no exceptions (if you absolutely needed to take a leak you would have to do that in your seat). The Captain made that announcement (not the urinating bit) and then added.."if any part of your body enters the cockpit, that part will be mine!"
> Are the passengers' determination enough ?
I wouldn't like to see it put to the test.
Speaking personally, I'd prefer to die fighting. But in Truth, on the day, against determined Bad Heads armed with edged weapons? It would take a brave man under the best of circumstances to take on that scenario.
Which says all the more about the bravery of the passengers of Flight 93.
My kind of guy! "Did I gross you out? Good! Because that's what I meant to do! Mission successful."
Heh heh.
- another Ion kind of guy
Gee whiz, are we going to have to start having people take mental exams before boarding flights? Or maybe they can have first class, second class and crazy class sections??
Weird.
susie
Would they call him a Mexican national if he were an American citizen? I'm asking because the terminology is starting to make my head spin.
susie
THe Deckerd family were first class passengers in more ways than one. Way to go!!
Even if they manage to take over the cabin, they won't get into the cockpit - the doors are reinforced now.
Plus they reacted *after* the perps had control of the plane. That wouldn't happen now.
We could let every passenger on board with bazookas right now. There is no way in hell the other passengers will let them use one. People are ready to protect themselves. This, not any government effort, is why there will never be another 9/11, and why TSA expenditures are 100% grade-A worthless P.R., and a waste of taxpayer money.
It's the P.C. way of saying "NOT an American citizen, not in America legally". "Illegal alien" has such a nasty ring to it, don't you think, and "National" has such a dignified sound it makes a good euphemism.....ha ha.
The shoot down is the ultimate solution but we need to give the passengers as much chance as possible before that particular trigger needs to be pulled.
I want to see a federal requirement for police truncheons to be installed in holsters at every passenger seat on every commercial airliner. Furthermore, there need to be caches of reserve truncheons installed in the overhead storage compartments of all commercial airliners.
We already know that on 11 September, United Airlines flight 93 failed in its terrorist mission due to the courageous actions of a few passengers. Not too long after 9/11, there was an episode during which a deranged man was subdued by a pilot AND his fellow passengers after he invaded the cockpit. This article shows the same pattern, the passengers are the critical security element. Our citizens will not allow themselves to become passive participants in a terrorist attack.
We already trust our citizens to bear arms in defense of our nation. What fools must we be if we cannot trust them to defend their own lives aboard airliners threatened by terrorists!
Clubs are natural weapons that require virtually no training to use. The flight safety card simply needs to note where the truncheons are, what their purpose is, the ways of employing them (swung, thrust or thrown) and suggested tactics to use in subduing any terrorists. Five terrorists armed with truncheons (or truncheons AND boxcutters) will not be able to withstand the attack of fifty frightened and determined passengers armed with 100 or more truncheons. I know that if I'm a passenger on a hijacked plane, I'll take those odds any day rather than allow some SOB to make my bones part of a hole in a building or a field!
This also relieves us of the ridiculous need to forbid the carrying of pocket knives, box cutters, nail clippers, razors, bookmarks, etcetera by passengers. Fifty passengers wielding two-foot long truncheons are more than a match for any terrorist foolish enough to use pocket knives or bookmarks to try and take over an airliner. As a corollary, airport security can concentrate its efforts on what really counts (guns, explosives, aerosol cans, combat knives, tasers, laser blinding devices, etc.).
The handwriting is on the wall, when the bleep is the TSA going to get smart and read it! This article just underlines what should have been obvious almost from day one to anybody but a TSA bureaucrat. Make the passengers part of the solution and quit treating them as part of the problem!
Concealed carry permit holders have already passed background checks, proven themselves capable of using proper situational restraint, and in most cases, of being accurate with the firearm of choice.
Those who passed would carry their personal weapon on board, get to skip the usual nonsense, and be permitted at the federal level to carry in the jurisdiction they were flying to, regardless of local or state laws. Incentive enough to sign up, for most, as if being able to 'do' something about the safety of their fellow passengers and self were not enough.
Of course, this will happen when PETA is walking around, en masse, in lizard fur coats.
My next suggestion was for the issuance of a sheath knife to each passenger, for the same reason as you would issue truncheons.
After reflection, I like your idea, too, but instead of a full length police truncheon, how about one, say, at a foot to 18 inches. I have been in enough fights on school busses back when to know anything much longer will be difficult to wield with maximum efficiency, especially in a crowded environment packed with seats and passengers.
Those who, for whatever reason 'lose it' as seems to be increasingly common need not (necessarily) be killed, merely subdued. The option to finish the job, in the case of hardcore terrorists exists, but if the passengers can subdue, search, and secure them, they may have intelligence value if properly interrogated.
Never did hear the 'rest of the story' on that one. . .and perhaps for the reasons you mention. . .
I do the same thing. It's called "profiling". I've been "profiling" since November of 2001 on airtravel (and other places...).
It's the only way to fly.
How did I miss this one???
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