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.
LOL. . .and the infant was. . .traveling alone?
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051210/NEWS01/512100348
This source has more details. We cannot link to the Honolulu Advertiser in FR.
BTTT
I love hearing these stories about Americans on airplanes "taking care of business"...
This is not the first such case, and I'm certain there will be more.....
When I board planes, I look around and do a little "reality profiling" checking out who may be friend or foe.....
So sue me!
Semper Fi
You would think. . .but then; why not just say he was/lived. . .traveling from. . . Mexico. Or as you offer; just say. . .Mexican 'Citizen'.
What IS with the 'national'. . .save only to obscure, perhaps.. .
I didn't see him threaten an infant or charge the cockpit. I think the other passengers overreacted.
Now can I get me a Today Show interview?
We'll all have to be "vigilantes" before this WOT is over.
Good show. I'm just waiting for MSM/Katie Couric/BarbaraBoxer/Streisand/ etc to blame Bush because the passengers did not receive adequate training, showing Bush is a racist, etc.
He's lucky they did not kill him. I certainly would have done my dead level best to do so.
He was probably taking some meds that Americans didn't want to take.
In Germany I profile all the time in terms of what subway car I get on and where I stand.
Yes, and why we need armed aircrews.
Good Work!
i don't think any US airplane will ever been hijacked again
"When I board planes, I look around and do a little "reality profiling" checking out who may be friend or foe..... "
Are you committing a "nonverbal hate crime"?
"Of all the places to act out one's stupidity an airplane is the worst."
Remember the story from a couple of weeks ago, about the drunk woman who tried to open the door of the plane so she could smoke? I think she was a Frenchwoman,
I think it's safe to say that JFK wouldn't have been part of that 'gang of seven'...manual labor, you know?
That's amazing, given that it's a 12 page rag that is basically a doorknob hanger for the Waikiki Beach hotels.
You'd think they'd appreciate the exposure.
Mexican national does not mean he was an illegal. Despite what some probably wish was true, foreign nationals are allowed to fly on U.S. airlines. Of course certain people think that anyone born is Mexico is an illegal alien even if they are now U.S. citizens, have proper visitation papers, or are legal residents.
Yes, he could have flown in on a connection from MexCity to LAX for all we know.
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