The American Airlines passenger tries to open plane door in mid-air told flight attendants that people were out to pick him up before he grabbed a plastic knife and tried to break the neck of a champagne bottle, a federal complaint filed Monday.
Juan Remberto Rivas’ paranoia ended when a flight attendant hit him on the head with a coffee pot and other passengers wrestled him to the ground to tie him up, the document said. .
“Hurry up and put a bullet in my head,” Rivas said as he was restrained, according to a witness.
Rivas is facing charges of interfering with a flight attendant and up to 20 years in prison for Monday’s drama Flight 1775, who was forced to make an emergency landing in Kansas City en route from Los Angeles. Angeles and Washington, DC.
Passengers interviewed by the FBI made a distinction as to whether Rivas made any threats to bring down the plane. One said he heard the suspect say, “We’re going to land the plane.”
Rivas appeared calm during the first part of the flight. The trouble started when he went to the front of the jet and asked the police, saying he didn’t trust anyone around him and wanted to switch to first class.
“Rivas said people were trying to hurt him and they followed him onto the plane. Rivas added that he heard people harming his family over the phone,” the complaint reads.
His seat was changed, but then he went back to the showroom “and started saying the plane didn’t move and didn’t fly. Rivas was informed that it was moving and looking out the window,” the complaint reads.
That’s when, according to witnesses, Rivas grabbed a bottle from the galley counter and tried to break it and snatched a package of supplies and stuck a knife up his sleeve – like a chain, one witness said. chain.
Rivas allegedly tried to pull open the cockpit door and then began grabbing the handle of the right side door, hard enough to shift it within the frame a few inches.
A witness “reported that a flight attendant used a metal coffee maker to hit Rivas on the head twice,” the lawsuit says. Another passenger “then punched Rivas in the jaw area” while another “grabbed Rivas by the nape of the neck with both hands and pulled him to the floor.” A pilot on duty on the flight showed up with duct tape and zip ties used to immobilize him.
One of the passengers said Rivas said he was on his way to meet his children in Washington and he appeared to be intoxicated, but flight attendants said he was not allowed to serve alcohol on board.
