A Massachusetts man was charged Monday after attempting to open an emergency door and stabbing a flight attendant in the neck on a United Airlines flight that left Los Angeles, California, for Boston, Massachusetts, reported. The authorities.
The suspect, identified as
Francisco Severo Torres, 33
, was arrested Sunday and charged Monday with two federal charges: interference with a flight and attempted interference with crew members using a dangerous weapon.
Torres was arrested at Boston's Logan International Airport, the Massachusetts District Attorney's Office said, after the plane landed early due to a disturbance on board.
According to the indictment, about 45 minutes before landing, the crew was alerted that
one of the plane's emergency doors had been unlocked.
After checking the door, the crew discovered that the lock had been moved, and that the same had happened with the emergency slide lever.
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One of the flight attendants said he saw Torres loitering near the gate and suspected he tampered with the locks.
After notifying the captain that
the passenger "posed a threat to the aircraft" and that he had to land the plane as soon as possible
, one of the crew members confronted Torres, who demanded that they show him with security camera evidence that he was responsible.
Court documents detail that Torres later got up from his seat, approached two flight attendants in the aisle and
lunged at one of them, trying to stab him three times in the neck with a broken metal spoon.
The passengers helped to immobilize him, before his arrest on the ground, the prosecution specifies.
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Subsequent interviews revealed that, during safety instructions given at the start of the flight, Torres asked another passenger where the lever was to open the door and that he was seen hanging around the kitchen before attacking the plane's staff.
A passenger was detained after trying to open the emergency door of a plane.skaman306 / Getty Images
“We do not tolerate any type of violence on our flights, and this customer will be banned from flying United pending an investigation,” the airline said in a statement, adding that it is cooperating with authorities.
No one was injured during the incident aboard the Boeing 757.
If found guilty of the federal charges against him, Torres faces penalties ranging from five years probation and
a fine of up to $250,000
, up to
life imprisonment.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the attack on Torres, who is from Leominster, Massachusetts, but the suspect appeared before a judge and is scheduled for another hearing on March 9, according to the Massachusetts District Attorney's Office.
