http://mobile.news.com.au/ American Airlines passenger Daniela Velez-Reyes kicks passenger, kisses and punches flight attendant IT has been called the „Bridesmaids moment‟ on a plane and has ended in a flight being diverted and serious charges laid. American Airlines‟ flight 1284 from Miami, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois, on Monday was flying over Sullivan County in Indiana one hour from its destination when 25-year-old Daniela Velez-Reyes forcefully kicked the seat of the passenger in front of her, ABC7 Chicago reported. The shocked passenger turned around to object and Velez-Reyes punched him in the face, witnesses said. Jim Saviano, a passenger on the flight, said on Instagram that a female flight attendant intervened after Velez-Reyes‟ punched the passenger in front and took her to the back of the plane to try to calm her down. After a few minutes of talking and trying to placate Velez-Reyes, “this girl grabbed the flight attendant she grabbed her face and kissed her and then punched her in the face,” said Saviano. “It was just a lot of screaming, yelling. I thought it was a kid crying in the back (at first), but it ended up being (her). She was kind of being belligerent, drunk on the plane,” another passenger Brian Wood told NBC Chicago. The American airlines‟ pilot put the plane in lockdown, but told the passengers that the flight attendants needed help restraining the woman. “He just said large men,” Saviano told ABC. “He said I need large passengers to restrain another passenger. So when I hear „large passenger,‟ I‟m thinking something big is going down.” Passenger Darnell Wilson said that he and three other passengers helped. “She was on the ground,” Wilson said. “She wouldn‟t stand up. She kept hollering that she was going to mess herself, like she was cursing people out. It was really absurd.”
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The pilot told everyone to stay in their seats and then the plane started descending before the captain announced that he was making an emergency landing in Indianapolis. Marion County Sheriff deputies entered the plane and a passenger filmed the handcuffed Velez-Reyes being removed from the plane. In the video, Velez-Reyes yelled, “Oww” and “call my mom (sic)”.
She was accused of assaulting a 36-year-old female flight attendant and a 52-year-old male passenger. A police officer was also kicked as VelezReyes was being removed from the flight. Velez-Reyes was charged with battery with injury, battery without injury, battery of a public safety officer, criminal recklessness, disorderly conduct and disruption of the operation of an aircraft. She has been detained in Marion County Jail. The flight arrived at O‟Hare International Airport in Chicago about 90 minutes late because of the emergency landing in Indianapolis, the airline said.
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/ Yuguda: „Missing‟ plane is with Overland Airways The Bauchi State Government-owned plane that Governor Mohamed Abdullahi Abubakar said was allegedly found in Morocco is on lease to Overland Airways and the state government can contact the airline to find out the latest about it, former state governor Malam Isa Yuguda said in Abuja yesterday. He said his successor “could not have discovered” the plane because a 15-page report on it was contained in the handover notes he handed over to Abubakar. He said he even included a paragraph on the plane in the handover notes‟ executive summary so that Abubakar would not miss it. Yuguda dismissed the lead story in yesterday‟s Daily Trust which claimed that he had been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer questions about the plane‟s whereabouts. He said, “EFCC has not invited me on this or any other issue. When they gave me a clearance, they told me that I have no further issues to answer. However, I am aware that some petitions have been instigated against me. Based on some of those, I may be required to come forward and offer some explanations and I am fully ready to do so.” Yuguda said the full story of the plane, which was bought by the earlier administration of Governor Ahmadu Adamu Mu‟azu, is contained in the handover notes and his successor did not need any assets recovery committee to discover what happened to the plane. He said at the time he left office, the plane was on lease to Overland Airways, which he described as a reputable airline with a good safety record. According to him, the plane underwent C-check in a Moroccan hangar and though it was certified fit to fly, smoke was emitting from the engine into the cabin, which necessitated dismantling the engine and taking it to Rolls Royce in England for a full work over. He said that was where matters stood at the time he quit the Government House and he advised his successor to contact Overland Airways to find out the current state of things. Yuguda also advised Governor Abubakar, whom he described as a childhood friend, to beware of rumour mongers, including those who say that he was trying to instigate the Bauchi State House of Assembly to impeach the governor. He said he would never do anything to disrupt the peace and tranquility of Bauchi State. He said during the handover he advised his successor to call him whenever he needed explanation on any issue. That offer still stands and if things are done that way it will avoid embarrassing claims like that of a missing plane when it was actually on lease, Yuguda said.
http://www.usatoday.com/ Fliers describe chaotic scene that caused American flight to divert Police on Tuesday identified the woman arrested for a violent outburst that forced a Chicago-bound American Airlines flight to divert to Indianapolis a day earlier. Daniela Velez-Reyes, 25, Chicago, remained in custody at the Marion County Jail Tuesday afternoon, according to the Indianapolis Star. An Indianapolis Airport Police report said Velez-Reyes was arrested on suspicion of battery, disorderly conduct, criminal recklessness and resisting law enforcement. Authorities allege Velez-Reyes was at the center of a disturbance on American Airlines Flight 1284 from Miami to Chicago O'Hare. Police said the woman became unruly during the flight, alleging that she struck both a flight attendant and passenger on the flight. The pilot opted to divert to Indianapolis. American confirmed an incident to Today in the Sky, saying in a statement: "American Airlines Flight 1284, a Boeing 737 flying from Miami to Chicago, diverted yesterday to Indianapolis International Airport due to an unruly passenger on board. The passenger was removed from the aircraft and the flight re-departed shortly after to Chicago. " Passengers on the flight described a chaotic scene. Jim Saviano, a West Coast-based disc jockey who also goes by the name Savi, said he first heard a commotion from near where the woman was sitting. "You could hear someone screaming expletives in the back repeatedly," he said to ABC 7 of Chicago. "Then she started kicking the seat of the passenger in front of her, and he apparently turned around to complain," Marian Frendt, another Flight 1284 passenger added to ABC 7. "And she hit him." Saviano said that's when a flight attendant intervened.
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"She was trying to talk the girl down," Saviano told ABC 7. "She seemed really calm. She was talking about her boyfriend. And then, all of a sudden, she grabbed [the flight attendant] by the face, kissed her and then punched her in the face." It was shortly after that the pilot decided to divert, according to passenger accounts. The pilot "announced a cabin lockdown and (that he) needed everyone in their seats immediately and needed large male volunteers to restrain a passenger," Saviano told USA TODAY via e-mail and Twitter. A few minutes later, Saviano said the plane "started descending faster than normal and then the captain announced we would be making a landing in Indianapolis." The Star reported that the two victims in the incident were a 36year-old woman and a 52-year-old man, according to a police report from port from Indianapolis Airport Police. The woman suffered a minor injury, and the man suffered no injuries.
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