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By Anu Prakash
Web produced by Sarah Morgan
March 7, 2006
A man being deported from the U.S. was at the center of a bizarre incident at Metro Airport. Police said he boarded a Northwest Airlines plane and then jumped out the emergency exit before the plane took off.
Yong Sheng Zhu, a 26-year-old Chinese national, had over stayed his visa and was recently taken into custody to be deported.
Around noon on Tuesday, immigration officials escorted Zhu to his seat on Northwest flight #11. After Zhu was seated the agents waited in the jet-way to make sure the plane would takeoff. That’s when one of the agents noticed him on the tarmac.
Investigators said Zhu opened the rear emergency door and jumped from the plane while it was parked at the gate. It was a 20 foot fall down to concrete tarmac.
Gregory Palmore, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said "That is a tremendous jump. That’s basically equivalent to jumping of a second story building. We find it strange because individuals are aware that they are going to be removed from the country and I’m sure, at some point, it’s built into their database, their mind that they’re going to return home."
Zhu was taken into custody and then transported to the hospital with a possible broken back.
"No criminal history. He’s been vetted through all the databases to make sure he wasn’t a public safety threat. We wouldn’t have put an individual on a plane that would have been a safety threat to the passengers," said Palmore.
When Zhu is released, investigators said, he will be given a one way ticket to China...again. Investigators said he will have an escort next time.
Copyright 2006, WXYZ. All Rights Reserved.
