Posted on 12/08/2005 12:21:37 PM PST by Rennes Templar
A passenger on Flight 924 gives his account of the shooting and says Rigoberto Alpizar never claimed to have a bomb
By SIOBHAN MORRISSEY/MIAMI
At least one passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 924 maintains the federal air marshals were a little too quick on the draw when they shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar as he frantically attempted to run off the airplane shortly before take-off.
"I don't think they needed to use deadly force with the guy," says John McAlhany, a 44-year-old construction worker from Sebastian, Fla. "He was getting off the plane." McAlhany also maintains that Alpizar never mentioned having a bomb.
"I never heard the word 'bomb' on the plane," McAlhany told TIME in a telephone interview. "I never heard the word bomb until the FBI asked me did you hear the word bomb. That is ridiculous." Even the authorities didn't come out and say bomb, McAlhany says. "They asked, 'Did you hear anything about the b-word?'" he says. "That's what they called it."
When the incident began McAlhany was in seat 24C, in the middle of the plane. "[Alpizar] was in the back," McAlhany says, "a few seats from the back bathroom. He sat down." Then, McAlhany says, "I heard an argument with his wife. He was saying 'I have to get off the plane.' She said, 'Calm down.'"
Alpizar took off running down the aisle, with his wife close behind him. "She was running behind him saying, 'He's sick. He's sick. He's ill. He's got a disorder," McAlhany recalls. "I don't know if she said bipolar disorder [as one witness has alleged]. She was trying to explain to the marshals that he was ill. He just wanted to get off the plane."
McAlhany described Alpizar as carrying a big backpack and wearing a fanny pack in front. He says it would have been impossible for Alpizar to lie flat on the floor of the plane, as marshals ordered him to do, with the fanny pack on. "You can't get on the ground with a fanny pack," he says. "You have to move it to the side."
By the time Alpizar made it to the front of the airplane, the crew had ordered the rest of the passengers to get down between the seats. "I didn't see him get shot," he says. "They kept telling me to get down. I heard about five shots."
McAlhany says he tried to see what was happening just in case he needed to take evasive action. "I wanted to make sure if anything was coming toward me and they were killing passengers I would have a chance to break somebody's neck," he says. "I was looking through the seats because I wanted to see what was coming.
"I was on the phone with my brother. Somebody came down the aisle and put a shotgun to the back of my head and said put your hands on the seat in front of you. I got my cell phone karate chopped out of my hand. Then I realized it was an official."
In the ensuing events, many of the passengers began crying in fear, he recalls. "They were pointing the guns directly at us instead of pointing them to the ground," he says "One little girl was crying. There was a lady crying all the way to the hotel."
McAlhany said he saw Alpizar before the flight and is absolutely stunned by what unfolded on the airplane. He says he saw Alpizar eating a sandwich in the boarding area before getting on the plane. He looked normal at that time, McAlhany says. He thinks the whole thing was a mistake: "I don't believe he should be dead right now."
It is stunning to see agents in action trying to save the lives of all on the plane.
These people are going to come out of the woodwork now.
The guy is running for the cockpit with a backpack, yelling. Bad sign.
I have mixed opinions on this....
Allthough the term "target practice" leaps to mind and doesn't really bother me.
I saw this guy on Fox today.
He's enjoying himself entirely TOO much, if you get my drift.
betcha the lawyers are lined up right now watering at the mouth to sue on this one..
And so it begins. Next up, comparisons to the shooting of Menendez, by London police, on the Underground after the 7/21 attempted bombings.
This is just one witness. I'll wait for further corroboration before reaching the conclusion that the marshals were wrong to shoot the guy.
shoot first, ask questions later.
god bless america.
I bet the 9/11 hijackers looked perfectly normal that fateful morning as well.
He was on a cell phone during a bomb incident, and he is upset they knocked his phone away from him? Doesn't he know that terrorists use cell phones to remotely detonate bombs?
One hallmark of a conservative's perspective is a heightened skepticism of governmental justifications for killing an unarmed man.
I'm waiting to see how this pans out.
You think this guy you saw was just seeking his 15 mins?
maybe he said I have a bum. (as in urban camping person)
The worst that can be said is that there is now one fewer crazy men.
Well, but he was ready to break someone's neck if need be!
I didn't see him, but I have a picture in my head of a a guy whose never been anyone, and now, suddenly he can be a hero without really doing anything!
susie
Was he the guy who thinks the flight crew should be the ones to deal with potential terrorists?
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