Caught on camera: Massachusetts man accused of trying to stab flight attendant mid-air
CRANSTON. R.I. (WJAR) — A Massachusetts man was tackled by passengers and later arrested after allegedly trying to open a plane's emergency door and then attempting to stab a flight attendant with a broken spoon while on a flight from Los Angeles to Boston.
Francisco Severo Torres, 33, of Leominister was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport when the United Airlines flight landed on Sunday.
Lisa Olsen, of East Greenwich, was traveling on United Flight 2609 with her husband and teenage daughter.
Olsen sent NBC 10 video of the moments leading up to the altercation.
"He was talking about Nazis and raping women," said Olsen in an interview with NBC 10. "I have my 17-year-old daughter next to me. She was crying. She was very upset. She wouldn't even let me touch her. She thought we were going to crash."
Federal prosecutors said the flight was 45 minutes from landing at Logan Airport when the flight crew was told a side door on the plane was disarmed.
A flight attendant discovered the door's handle was moved out of the fully locked position "and that the emergency slide arming lever had been moved to the 'disarmed' position," federal prosecutors said in a release.
Another flight attendant said he saw Torres near the door and believed Torres had tampered it.
When confronted about tampering with the door, Torres allegedly asked flight attendants if there were cameras that showed him tampering with the door.
The flight attendant subsequently told the captain they believe Torres posed a threat to the aircraft and the aircraft needed to be landed as soon as possible.
In Olsen's cellphone video, Torres is heard arguing with passengers seated in the row behind him. He's also heard calling out for Homeland Security.
"Tell them to bring SWAT to shoot me down because they're gonna have to shoot me down today," said Torres, who sat in the middle seat of the exit row. "Where are they diverting us because wherever it is, it's gonna be a bloodbath."
Torres repeatedly referred to himself as "Balthazar" and said his father is "Dracula."
"Where's Homeland Security with the gun because I'm waiting for them to point the gun at me so that I can show everybody that I won't die when I take every bullet in that clip to wherever in my body, they shoot it and then I will kill every man on this plane," Torres said in the video.
Prosecutors said Torres then got out of his seat and walked towards two flight attendants at the side door.
He then allegedly "thrusted towards one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon," hitting the flight attendant three times on the neck, according to prosecutors.
The video then shows a group of male passengers confronting Torres at the front of the plane. Olsen said Torres was placed in zip ties and they all took turns restraining Torres until the flight landed.
"That was amazing," said Olsen. "It did remind me of 9/11 when you heard of them doing the same thing and taking the plane down. They didn't hesitate."
Torres was taken into custody once the plane landed at Logan Airport.
Other passengers aboard the flight later told investigators that Torres asked a passenger where on the safety card it showed the location of the door handle.
Investigators were also told Torres was seen pacing in a galley before the attendant was attacked.
Torres is facing one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon. With these charges come a potential sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
NBC 10's Leanna Faulk contributed to this report.