CLEVELAND - The unruly passenger who caused a commercial jet flying from Chicago to Germany to divert to Cleveland Friday is facing federal charges.
The FBI said Monday that Saleh Ali S. Alramakh, aka Saleh Ali S. Alramaleh, age 21, of Riyadh Saudi Arabia, has been charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants. The incident caused United Airlines Flight 944 -- en route to Frankfurt -- to divert to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at about 5:30 p.m.
According to the FBI, Alramakh went into the plane’s bathroom and used an electronic device while the plane was taxiing in Chicago. He allegedly refused to follow the flight attendant’s directives that he immediately turn off the device and return to his seat, but eventually returned to his seat.
Shortly after takeoff and while passengers are still required to stay seated, the FBI said Alramakh went into the bathroom again and used an electronic device. He once again refused to follow orders by the flight attendants to immediately return to his seat, investigators said. At this point, the FBI said flight attendants unlocked and opened the bathroom door, at which point Alramakh became verbally abusive toward the attendants before returning to his seat.
At some point later in the flight, Alramakh got up a third time and approached a flight attendant in a “belligerent, confrontational manner,” the FBI said. “Alramakh was speaking in a loud tone of voice, using profanity, with his face inches from the flight attendant's face.
Look! You made the guy go to Cleveland!!! Isn't that punishment enough???
(My apologies to all my friends in Cleveland!)
H/T Memeorandum
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I'm surprised that he was a young, Islamic male. It's usually the 75-year-old wheelchair bound white women and children under 7 that the TSA really needs to concern themselves with. Go figure.
ReplyDelete:D
ReplyDeleteMrs. C: Do I detect the slightest hint of sarcasm in your comment?
ReplyDeleteSF: Yes.
(I have the strongest feeling of déjà vu, that I made this comment, or a variation of it and it disappeared.)
I lived very near Cleveland for 2-3 years. Other than being slightly liberal, it's not a bad town. Somehow, many years ago, it became the punchline for a joke and is almost guaranteed to get a laugh. (If you tell the joke right!) It may be the Rodney Dangerfield of cities.
A Saudi with an alias and an electronic device locked in the restroom. Not a healthy combination.
ReplyDeleteYeah. But, I don't care if he was a blue eyed Swedish foreign exchange student, you follow the same rules as everyone else and you obey the flight crew. At best, his behavior was unspeakably rude.
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