Passenger Describes Subduing Suspect

northernlight ^ | December 22 | reuters

[classygreeneyedblonde]

BOSTON (AP) -- Thierry Dugeon said the first he knew anything was wrong on American Airlines Flight 63 was when he heard a flight attendant 10 rows in front of him cry out, ``I need some help!'' `

`I was there in five seconds, and there were already two or three guys on him,'' Dugeon said Saturday after the Paris-to-Miami-bound jet landed safely at Boston. ``It was like everybody knew what they needed to do. It's pure instinct because it goes so fast. You're not going to think twice.''

Authorities said a man carrying a British passport in the name of Richard Reid may have been carrying explosives in the heel of his shoes and was trying to set fire to one of them when a flight attendant smelled sulfur and intervened.

Dugeon estimated that five to six male passengers subdued Reid -- who resisted at first -- using belts to bind his hands, waist, chest and feet. Two doctors injected him with a sedative from the onboard medical kit. `

`It's three months after Sept. 11. Of course, the first thing you think of is it's something to do with terrorism,'' he said.

Dugeon, a 36-year-old television reporter from Paris, said he was seated in Row 39, 10 rows behind Reid. He said he had noticed the man in the airport when boarding and there was nothing that made Reid stand out.

Dugeon said after the man was subdued, passengers searched him, found the British passport, and questioned him about whether he spoke French, English or Arabic.

Dugeon said Reid told the passengers was Jamaican, but they didn't believe him. A law enforcement source who asked not be identified said Reid was not Middle Eastern.

Over the next two hours, passengers took turns watching the sedated Reid while the crew showed the movie ``Legally Blonde.'' When the plane neared Boston, the captain told them that fighter jets would escort them to Logan. After landing, all the passengers stayed seated until the police came and took the suspect off.

Dugeon described Reid's footwear as hightop-type basketball sneakers, and said he had tried to light the front of his sneakers.

[kayak]

ROFL!!!!!

[classygreeneyedblonde]

ESKIMO???????

[xm177e2]

I don't know if a Zippo would set off C4. I think our soldiers in Vietnam used to take small blocks of C4 and light them, and then they would slowly burn, rather than explode.

[TopDog2]

If that's the guy in that picture...NOT MIDDLE EASTERN MY BUTT!!

[gorush]

I have ignited a fuse with a match...actually a couple of matches. The fuses with which I have experience took two or three matches to ignite...once done, the blasting cap had no trouble detonating the TNT (and previous responses indicate that C4 would have acted similarily). This alleged terrorist may have been ill-trained (maybe igniting a book of matches and then the fuse...) If the early info can be believed (a rare occurance at best) the good guys dodged a bullet here.

[tessalu]

That guy is so evil looking that he could have been arrested on looks alone.

[classygreeneyedblonde]

That's him.....

[No!]

Who, that eskimo? :)

[watchin]

Okay boys and girls, here's a quiz: Which guy in the picture looks more like a "Richard Reid" and which one looks more like an "Achmed Allah Yurbasarbil Ontewus"?

[Conservative]

Watch for the New York Times editorial describing how the American flying public is a group of savage, uncivilized vigilantes.

[stlnative]

Another picture of the suspect

[COL. FLAGG]

Tough to leave him alive on plane (as a mere passenger), but our guys need to interrogate him

True, but he could be softened up a bit before he was turned over to the Feds. How about a broken nose and a few broken bones??

[paul544]

C-Rats??

[classygreeneyedblonde]

That or some group will come up with some hate thing

[jrewingjr]

He could still talk with a broken arm, heheh.

[spectr17]

In Military Terminology, an "A Ration" is one with fresh vegetables, fresh meat, fresh milk and so on, served in a dining facility/messhall etc. This stuff needs refrigeration

A "B Ration" is one that is from a can, or is preserved some way. some of us remember canned bacon, steaks in cans (just add water) and so on. These are generally served in the field mess facility. No refrigeration required.

"C-Rations, D-Rations, Iron Rations, K-Rations and so on, were given to the troops for them to fix. The "C-Ration from World War II fame (and still around from Korea) was a single can, everything was in it, including several small cans. The K/Iron/D rations came in a "cracker jack box".

The Meals Combat Individual (MCI) came out at the start of the Kennedy Administration (they had been developed but they were waiting for the WWII stocks to go down). This was the "C-Ration" for the folks in Viet Nam and what a lot of us remember up to 1982/83.

The Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) has been through several variations as has the infamous "T-Rations".

[Tax Government]

On 9/11, a family friend was mid-Atlantic on a flight from Europe to the U.S. when the N.Y. towers were struck. Without telling passengers, the plane turned around and headed back. About the time it would normally land in the U.S., the sky had become lighter on the RIGHT side of the plane when normally this would happen on the LEFT. They were then told a national emergency had occurred. To the passengers this suggested a nuclear blast on American soil was responsible for lighting the upper atmosphere to the north, on the right side. It was not until they landed in Europe and were 70 miles away in a hotel, that they were told what happened.

What's the bottom line? Passengers were knowingly kept in the dark, to give the crew time to look critically at who might fit a terrorist profile, and to keep passengers from becoming agitated. Although passengers suffered no damage, they passed through a surreal situation where nuclear holocaust, present tense, seemed possible.

[stlnative]

One more picture of him...