- Banned
- #1
But too bad they couldn't before he scared the bejesus out of everyone.
Rageh Almurisi, Unruly American Airlines Passenger, Also Had California ID
(More info in the link ^ )
Rageh Almurisi, Unruly American Airlines Passenger, Also Had California ID
(More info in the link ^ )
SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal agents are investigating the background of a California man with a Yemeni passport who pounded on the cockpit door of an American Airlines flight as it approached San Francisco before a flight attendant tackled him, police said Monday.
Rageh Almurisi, 28, does not have any clear or known ties to terrorism, and investigators have not established a possible motive, San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said.
Almurisi, of Vallejo, Calif., got up from his seat and went toward the cockpit door 10 minutes before the flight from Chicago was supposed to land on Sunday night, authorities said.
Almurisi was yelling unintelligibly as he brushed past a flight attendant on his way toward the cockpit, Rodriguez said.
A male flight attendant tackled him, and other crew members and passengers, including a retired Secret Service agent and a retired San Mateo police officer, helped subdue him as he banged on the door, police said.
"They were able to get him to the ground and a flight attendant put him in plastic handcuffs," Rodriguez said.
Andrew Wai, a passenger aboard the flight, described a chaotic scene, telling KGO-TV that passengers were screaming and crying. "Flight attendants were trying to soothe different passengers," he said. "We were all looking at our lives flash before our eyes."
Wai said Almurisi appeared "fidgety" when he saw him on the way to the bathroom earlier in the flight.
The Boeing 737 carrying 162 people landed safely at 9:10 p.m. and the man was taken into police custody. The flight came from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, authorities said.