Executive on Flight to Salt Lake City Is Charged for Going to the Lavatory
By MARTHA BRANNIGAN
A 59-year-old executive on a Delta Air Lines flight to Salt Lake City was charged with interfering with a flight crew after he allegedly stood up and went to the lavatory within 30 minutes of landing, despite a rule adopted for the Olympics that limits such movements by passengers.
Richard Bizzaro, chief executive officer of Unicity Network Inc., faces as long as 20 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 if convicted on the charge, according to authorities. The Saturday arrest was the first since the rule was put in place for the Olympics.
"This is a classic example of a misunderstanding between everyone involved," said Mr. Bizzaro's attorney, Max Wheeler. He said Mr. Bizzaro wasn't aware of the rule and misinterpreted the flight attendant ordering him to his seat as "just being rude."
According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in federal court in Salt Lake City, Mr. Bizzaro, a first-class passenger on a flight from Los Angeles, got up from his seat 25 minutes before landing and proceeded to the first-class lavatory after the crew had made two announcements advising passengers to remain seated for the last 30 minutes of the flight.
According to the affidavit, a flight attendant who saw him leaving the rest room told him to return to his seat immediately and felt Mr. Bizzaro, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds, "was attempting to intimidate her" when he stood and stared at her. The affidavit said he returned to his seat after "approximately a minute" and, according to a sky marshal on the plane -- one of several -- gave a "thumbs up," which the agent viewed as a hand signal to another passenger. After the incident, sky marshals took control of the cabin and ordered passengers to put their hands on their heads for the rest of the flight. The affidavit said Mr. Bizzaro removed his hands from his head and looked to the rear of the plane, but "became compliant" after an agent showed his credentials to him and threatened him with arrest if he didn't comply. Mr. Bizzaro was held in jail overnight and released on his own recognizance.
The rule restricting passengers' movements within 30 minutes of Salt Lake City during the Olympics is modeled after a similar Federal Aviation Administration regulation for flights at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., that went into effect after Sept. 11.
Mr. Bizzaro, who Monday issued an apology to the flight's passengers and crew, said that he "apparently dozed during the announcement of that rule." Unicity, of Orem, Utah, is a multilevel marketing concern that specializes in herbal products and is a division of Numico NV, of the Netherlands.
Tom Donahue, a Delta spokesman, said the Atlanta carrier "cooperated fully with authorities during and after the incident."
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Given the fact that he "became compliant" after an agent showed his credentials to him and threatened him with arrest if he didn't comply. ", wasn't shackled, and his "accomplice" apparently wasn't questioned at all, I think the three air marshalls knew beyond question he was no threat and their treatment of the other passengers was clearly abusive.
According to the affidavit, a flight attendant who saw him leaving the rest room told him to return to his seat immediately and felt Mr. Bizzaro, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds, "was attempting to intimidate her" when he stood and stared at her.Shades of the Secret Service agent case. Apparently its now a federal crime to make any of these people the least bit nervous.
-Eric