A Massachusetts man was arrested for attempting to open the exit door and stab a flight attendant on a United flight from Los Angeles to Boston Sunday evening.
Passengers jumped into action and tackled Francisco Severo Torres, 33, after he tried to stab a flight attendant with a broken spoon.
Nobody on board was injured.
The incident happened shortly before the plane was scheduled to land at Logan International Airport.
“Approximately 45 minutes prior to landing, the flight crew received an alarm in the cockpit that a starboard side door located between the first class and coach sections of the aircraft was disarmed. Upon inspection, a flight attendant found that the door’s locking handle had been moved out of the fully locked position – approximately a quarter of the way towards the towards the unlocked position – and that the emergency slide arming lever had been moved to the “disarmed” position. The flight attendant reported this to the captain and flight crew after securing the door and emergency slide.” the Justice Department said in a press release.
Torres was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon, according to the Justice Department.
NBC Boston reported:
A man on a plane from Los Angeles to Boston tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken spoon after trying to open a door in the air, federal prosecutors said Monday.
The incident took place Sunday night less than an hour before the United Airlines flight landed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Francisco Severo Torres, a 33-year-old from Leominster, Massachusetts, was tackled by passengers and restrained before the flight landed in Boston, where Torres was arrested, prosecutors said.
They said Torres appeared in federal court Monday and was held ahead of a hearing Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak to his arrest.
No one on board Flight 2609 was seriously hurt, a United Airlines representative told NBC10 Boston in a statement, saying the customer “was restrained after becoming a security concern” by the plane’s crew and other flights.
“We have zero tolerance for any type of violence on our flights, and this customer will be banned from flying on United pending an investigation. We are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation,” their statement said.
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