According to the Justice Department, a Massachusetts man was detained on Monday for allegedly attempting to stab a flight attendant in the neck three times with a broken metal spoon during a flight from Los Angeles to Boston.
Francisco Severo Torres, 33, is charged with interfering with flight crew members and attendants and attempting to do so with a hazardous weapon.
Torres was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport on Monday and will be held until his hearing on Thursday.
According to the Justice Department, on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston, the flight crew noticed an alarm that a door in the plane had been disarmed, and upon inspection, a flight attendant discovered the door's locking handle had been pushed out of the fully locked position and an emergency slide arming lever had been disarmed.
A flight attendant who saw Torres near the door went to talk to Torres about the door, according to the department, who asked if there were cameras showing he had tampered with the door.
The Justice Department said, "according to court filings, the flight attendant then alerted the captain that they believed Torres represented a threat to the aircraft and that the captain needed to land."
Torres allegedly got out of his seat, mouthed something, and then thrust "towards one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon, hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times," according to the department.
Torres was then tackled by other passengers on the trip and put into arrest as soon as the plane touched down.
Torres informed authorities that he broke a spoon in half to use as a weapon aboard the plane, according to a criminal complaint. According to the complaint, he allegedly informed authorities that he tried to unlock the emergency door and "had the notion" to leap out of the plane.
Torres allegedly told investigators that he was defending himself and attempted to stab the flight attendant because he thought they were going to kill him.
Credit: CNN, Punch Newspaper
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