Oops! Unruly flier slaps undercover air marshal

CNN Washington Bureau ^ | December 28, 2006 | From Jeanne Meserve

[SubGeniusX]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A US Airways passenger faced charges of interfering with a flight crew Thursday after he apparently unknowingly slapped an undercover federal air marshal, said an official familiar with the case.

The man, who'd been drinking liquor, threw a mid-air temper tantrum Wednesday night after attendants refused to serve him any more alcohol during his flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Fort Myers, Florida, the official said.

The passenger then slapped a fellow passenger, who happened to be an undercover air marshal assigned to the flight, said the official.

[SubGeniusX]

.... Bad Decision

[crz]

I would have liked to seen his face after that Marshall flipped out his badge and gave him a good long look at it.

Lemme see...he is up on Fed charges now.

[NonValueAdded]

"Of all the passengers on all the flights, you just happened to walk into the palm of my hand." I hope the drunken putz spends significant time behind bars ... the steel ones.

[HardStarboard]

No specifics at CNN - of course he "allegedly slapped" but nothing further.

Hopefully the female Air Marshall put the wrist of his slapping hand somewhere North of his shoulder blades until he whined for mercy and then cuffed him.

[ozzymandus]

Duh, oops!

[frankjr]

A tactic the terrorist scoutw use to find out who is an air marshal on a flight.

[gaijin]

Heard a funny and horrifying story 6 months ago:

Some crazy confabulist chats up another dude in line for his ticket, shooting off his mouth about he (mouth-shooter) is "an air marshall".

To whom was he shooting off his mouth, do ya thing?

To a REAL AIR-MARSHALL...!

Who ARRESTED him, and charged him...!

[TommyDale]

Was it Congressman Patrick Kennedy?

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I guess the taser delivered to his nads should of been a clue of who he slapped.

[muawiyah]

Could have been the other way around. On the other hand, this is probably two guys and the Air Marshall put his hand on the guy's thigh to shush him.

This will all come out in court so stay tuned for more good stuff.

[TADSLOS]

Would have been better served on a TSA agent.

[sittnick]

refused to serve him any more alcohol during his flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Fort Myers, Florida, the official said.

It is at most a 90 minute flight! Once he got off the plane he could have drunk his backside off!

[null and void]

Teddy?

[JoeSixPack1]

Zsa Zsa Gabor would be proud! :-)

[vox humana]

This never would have happened if the air marshals were still wearing uniforms!

[donmeaker]

TSA Thousands Standing Around.

[Blueflag]

I think it's closer to 120 minutes in the air.

[diogenes ghost]

Drunken, unruly, guilty of assault. But it is pure nonsense to charge him of interfering with anyone in authority, if he has no reason to believe they have any.

[scatterometer]

Sorry.....not the way the law works for undercover personnel if that person is on the job at the time.