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."
You never hear the one that gets you.
Here's what his story was earlier:
''He didn't look stable,'' said John McAlhany , a Sebastian construction worker in seat 24-C. ...[about the guy who was shot]
After the shooting, law enforcement officers surrounded the plane. Inside, McAlhany said passengers were ordered to crouch under their seats. He said when he tried to pop up for a look, a flight attendant ordered him to get back down.
He said the man apparently left a backpack on the plane, adding that the other passengers were treated roughly when law enforcement boarded the plane after the shooting. 'They put a gun to the back of my head and said, `Put your hands on the seat,' '' he said. ``That was more scary than anything else.''
He said the passengers were taken off the plane and confined to a conference room ``with a lot of other people.'' ...''I don't know if they shot an innocent man or not,'' McAlhany said. ``I don't think he was armed or had a bomb. I think he had a mental illness. I don't think they really had to shoot him, but I hope he didn't holler something stupid.'' -------MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT:Chaos on Flight 924: threat and fatal shots Miami Herald ^ | 12/08/2005 | A. Driscoll, L. Clark and T. Daniel , http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1536494/posts
If this is the same guy that was on FoxNews earlier today, his next stop is probably at an attorney's office. He seemed like he was looking for grounds to get allot of money out of his discomfort.
The famewhore virus is spreading....look for more passengers on this flight to become infected.
(of course, if the air marshals hadn't done anything, they would have gotten their 15 minutes bemoaning that they DID hear the word "bomb" and no one did anything....)
Anything else is superfluous data on which all the AFTER ACTION PUNDITS can use to CONDEMN this administration or the Federal Air Marshalls.
Waiting for more details before commenting.
Ok, now I gotta see this guy!
susie
So, the marshals were hasty but you were preparing to snap a neck?
The marshals are there so you don't have to, bud.
And you can thank the cowards from the "Religion of Peace" for this little incident. They're the ones who have made action like this necessary.
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
With this from yesterday:
''He didn't look stable,'' said John McAlhany, a Sebastian construction worker in seat 24-C. ...
And I have a MOM.
Man, he's all over the place.
If he was BiPolar why the hell did she let him get on the plane without taking his medicine. People who are BiPolar tend to see things and get paranoid. I've seen bipolar people think that they are talking to aliens from outer space. I'm not saying the Agents didn't do their job which they obviously did - but the wife is a bit to blame for this disaster!
He may not have heard it but that doesn't mean it wasn't said.
Sure you can.
Anyway, it sounds like this guy is just pissed off that he had his cell phone slapped out of his hand.
It's him.
He'll be on Hardball -- bet you a dollar!
TIME.com = Enemies of the State
"I mean, as long as he was off the plane so he couldn't kill me, I don't care how many people at the gate or in the concourse he could have killed if he had a bomb," McAlhany continued "In fact, I've always suspected that other people aren't even real, but simply robots that come to life when I enter a room."
Maybe next time the marshalls should poll the crowd as to whether or not the guy looked normal in the boarding area, since terrorists usually rant and rave in the boarding area before they get on the plane. /sarcasm
I guess the idiot isn't aware that bombs in Iraq are triggered by cell phones.
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