A passenger who helped restrain a threatening man on a weekend flight from Los Angeles to Boston says the entire chaotic episode was over within seconds thanks to teamwork
This image provided by Simik Ghookasian shows passengers and crew members restraining a man who according to federal authorities tried to open an airliner’s emergency door and tried to stab a flight attendant on a weekend flight from Los Angeles to Boston on Sunday, March 5, 2023. Simik Ghookasian, a passenger, said in a telephone interview that he was seated several rows behind the suspect, identified by federal authorities as Francisco Severo Torres, when he heard a commotion.
Ghookasian said he saw the spoon and he was among five or six passengers who piled onto Torres and removed it from his grasp. It turned out to be the handle of a metal spoon, from which the bowl portion had been broken off, authorities said. Ghookasian, who said he has first aid and counter-terrorism training, said he didn't have time to be scared, he just reacted and used his instincts.Torres, 33, of Leominster, Massachusetts, was arrested when the plane arrived in Boston and charged with interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon, federal prosecutors said. He was detained pending a hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Torres told investigators that he went into the airplane’s bathroom and broke a spoon in half to make a weapon, prosecutors said in the documents. They say he told authorities he wanted to open the door so that he could jump out of the plane.Torres said the flight attendants confronted him and he stabbed one of them in an attempt to defend himself, according to investigators. They said he believed the flight attendant was trying to kill him.
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