Man charged with trying to open a door on a flight to Boston and then trying to stab a flight attendant

Passengers on a United flight from Los Angeles to Boston tackled a Fitchburg man yesterday after he tried to open an emergency door, then tried to stab a flight attendant with a metal spoon he'd fashioned into a weapon shortly before the plane was about to begin its descent towards Logan, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

Francisco Severo Torres, 33, was hauled off Flight 2609 at Logan Airport by state troopers and detained overnight at their Logan barracks.

At his initial appearance in US District Court today, charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon, which carries a maximum possible sentence of life. A magistrate judge ordered him held at least until a hearing on Thursday.

About 45 minutes before landing, an alarm went off in the cockpit than an emergency door on the right side of the plane between first class and economy had been "disarmed," according to an affidavit filed by Boston Police detective Thomas Menino, Jr., currently on detail to the FBI.

A flight attendant took a look and found the door's handle had been moved out of the fully locked position about a quarter of the way and that the the mechanism for releasing an emergency slide was also no longer locked fully in place She re-locked both and alerted the captain - who flight attendants to try to investigate. One reported that he had seen Torres, in row 20, near the exit, near the door and believed he had tampered with it.

FA1 (one of the flight attendants) then approached TORRES and confronted him about tampering with the door. TORRES asked FA1 if there were cameras showing that he had tampered with the door. FA1 then returned to galley 2 and notified the Captain that he felt TORRES posed a threat to the aircraft and that the Captain needed to land the aircraft as soon as possible. ...

Shortly thereafter, TORRES got out of his seat and approached galley 2 where both FA1 and FA5 were located. FA1 and FA5 were standing in the aisle. FA5 saw TORRES mouthing something that he could not hear. TORRES had a shiny object in his right hand. When TORRES got close to FA5 he thrust the shiny object at FA5 with a stabbing motion. FA5 felt the object in TORRESS' hand hit him on his shirt collar and tie three times. Passengers tackled TORRES to the ground and he was restrained with the assistance of flight crew.

The detective interviewed passengers:

Passenger 1 was seated in seat 7C. Passenger 1 saw TORRES come out of the bathroom at galley 2 and start pacing back and forth in galley number 2. TORRES then returned to his seat. Later, Passenger 1 saw TORRES with something shiny in his right hand. During the confrontation described above, Passenger 1 observed that TORRES threw a punch at FA5 with his left hand and made a motion toward FA5's neck with his right hand.

Passenger 2 was seated in seat 20D, next to TORRES. During the flight attendants' safety briefing prior to takeoff, TORRES asked Passenger 2 where on the safety card it showed where the door handle was located. Passenger 2 did not know the answer to TORRES's question.

Passenger 3 was seated behind TORRES in seat 21E. Passenger 3 observed FA1 confront TORRES about tampering with the door. TORRES grew agitated. When TORRES later got up from his seat, Passenger 3 followed him. Passenger 3 observed TORRES try to stab FA5.

Passenger 3 took TORRES down to the floor and restrained him with the help of fellow passengers.

Menino writes he also interviewed Torres and that, after being read his Miranda rights, he talked:

TORRES told investigators that he went into the bathroom on the plane and broke a spoon in half to make a weapon. When he came out of the bathroom TORRES went into the galley, disarmed the door, and tried to open it unsuccessfully. TORRES had gotten the idea to open the emergency exit door and jump out of the plane. TORRES admitted to knowing that if he opened the door many people would die. TORRES stated that soon after that attempt, he was confronted by a couple of flight attendants. TORRES advised that to defend himself, he tried to stab one of the flight attendants in the neck three or four times. TORRES stated that he believed the flight attendant was trying to kill him, so he was trying to kill the flight attendant first.

Innocent, etc.