Francisco Severo Torres Arrested – Authorities claim that a Massachusetts man tried to open an emergency escape door on a cross-country flight on Sunday before repeatedly trying to stab a flight attendant. He has now been charged. With a deadly weapon, Francisco Severo Torres, 33, of Leominster, is charged with one count of “interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Around 45 minutes before the United aircraft from Los Angeles was scheduled to land at Boston’s Logan International Airport, the flight crew received a notification that the door separating first class and coach had been deactivated, according to the release.
The door’s locking handle had been turned “out of the fully locked position,” according to a security guard, and the emergency slide’s arming lever had been “disarmed.” Torres was spotted by another flight attendant who thought he had tampered with the door after seeing him close to it. According to the release, the flight attendant informed the captain that Torres appeared to be a threat and that the aircraft should land right away. Prosecutors claim that at one point, Torres got up from his seat and approached the two flight attendants, mouthing something incomprehensible before striking one of them three times with the neck region of a broken metal spoon.
Further information
According to the press announcement, passengers on the flight tackled Torres, and flight attendants assisted in keeping him in custody until they could hand him over to law officials after landing. One passenger on United Flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston was restrained after becoming a security issue thanks to the swift actions of our crew and passengers, a United Airlines representative informed Nexstar in a statement. “Law enforcement officials met the aircraft safely at the airport.” According to the spokeswoman, there were no significant injuries sustained during the trip, and United is helping authorities with their inquiry. We have zero tolerance for any form of violence on our planes, and this passenger will be prohibited from traveling with United pending an inquiry, according to the statement.
Investigators learned that Torres allegedly asked another passenger during the pre-flight safety briefing where on the safety card he could locate the door handle. The purported event was only the most recent of several recent in-flight fights. The Federal Aviation Administration looked into 823 reports of disorderly behavior between January 1, 2022, and December 15, 2022; this was much more than in previous years, despite a decrease from 1099 the previous year. According to the FAA, there were 131 occurrences annually between 2015 and 2020. The charge against Torres carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Torres was imprisoned on Monday and is scheduled to appear in court on March 9.
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