Plane Passenger Attempted Stabbing of Flight Attendant

A jet lands at Boston’s Logan International Airport. By Darryl Brooks @ Shutterstock.com

Is it any wonder Americans are rethinking how they take to the “not so” friendly skies? The surge in private flight is only going to grow. It’s why Your Survival Guy works with my guy on the ground to avoid the unpredictability of crowds. Asher Klein reports for NBC10 Boston:

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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 customers.

“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.

The incident began about 45 minutes before the plane was scheduled to land at Logan International Airport, prosecutors said, when an alarm went off in the cockpit that a door between first class and coach was disarmed, and a flight attendant found that the door’s handle was moved about a one-fourth of the way to being unlocked.

The door was secured and the captain was notified, then another flight attendant reported seeing Torres near the door, saying they believed he’d tampered with it, according to prosecutors. When a flight attendant confronted the passenger about what happened, he allegedly asked if cameras caught him doing it, and the plane’s employee urged the captain to land the plane as soon as possible, as Torres represented a threat to the plane.

Soon after that, Torres approached two flight attendants standing in the aisle near the door and lunged at one of them with a broken metal spoon, hitting them around the neck three times, prosecutors said. That’s when the passengers and crew tackled Torres.

Action Line: You don’t want to face this type of behavior on your next trip. Avoid confined crowds like those on commercial jets whenever possible. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.