NEWARK, N.J. – FBI agents said a 27-year-old man started a three-hour flight from Miami to Newark, New Jersey by threatening violence on a disabled child and mocking Jewish passengers. But it’s his threats towards crew members that have him facing up to 20 years in prison, they said.
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According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Luis Vaquero told a flight attendant who wouldn’t serve him alcohol after the beverage service window closed, “You better watch out, s---’s gonna happen to you.”
Authorities said it happened Sunday; they did not disclose which airline the incident happened on. According to the Miami International Airport website, American, Spirit and United Airlines fly from MIA to Newark.
A federal criminal complaint states that Vaquero’s “verbal altercations and noncompliance continued throughout the remainder of the flight, causing the flight crew to request a law enforcement response at the gate upon arrival.”
Authorities said after the captain “request(ed) passengers remain seated upon arrival at the gate as law enforcement would be removing a passenger first,” Vaquero, of Passaic County, New Jersey, became enraged.
They said he “left his seat, approached the flight deck door and began banging on the door with his fists and yelling and cursing at the captain while the plane was taxiing to the gate.”
“Upon arrival at the gate, the captain emerged from the flight deck, after which Vaquero approached the captain, screaming and threatening him until law enforcement boarded the plane and escorted Vaquero off the plane,” the complaint states. “While issuing these threats, Vaquero’s face was approximately six inches from the captain’s face.”
Agents said they obtained several videos of the incident.
“In one video, Vaquero bangs on the flight deck door, demanding the pilot’s name and yelling, ‘I don’t give a f---!’” agents wrote. “Later in the video, Vaquero yells towards the flight deck, ‘I need the pilot to come outside!’ He then tells a flight attendant, ‘I will really break your f---in’ jaw n---a!’”
In another clip, authorities said Vaquero yelled “I know they outside that door,” referring to law enforcement, then yelled “I wanna see that f---in’ captain! Come outside you b---- a-- n---a!”
Authorities said he yelled, “I got you on camera b----!” after the captain opened the flight deck door.
But it would be in part Vaquero’s conduct on camera that got him taken into federal custody on a charge of interference with flight crew members and attendants, they said.
“The harrowing flight and other similar incidents onboard airplanes recently are creating tension and fear for fliers and crew members,” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly said in a news release. ”FBI Newark has a warning for those who think it may not be a big deal—they’re breaking federal law, and they will be brought to justice.”
Aside from a two-decade prison sentence, Vaquero faces the specter of a $250,000 fine.
He was not listed in Federal Bureau of Prisons records as of Tuesday morning.