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'I want to kill all the Americans'SWAT team burst on to jet
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
'I want to kill all the Americans'Passengers on Air Canada flight from L.A. recall how SWAT team burst on to jetBy Michael FriscolantiNational Post, with files from news services
Damian Dovarganes, The Associated PressTwo F-16 fighter jets escort an Air Canada jet, not seen, as it returns to Los Angeles where police took a passenger into custody. Robert Teubner was reading a newspaper in the Los Angeles International Airport when a man in a yellow shirt sat on the bar stool beside him and ordered a glass of red wine."He clinked glasses with me," Mr. Teubner said yesterday. "I assumed he had a bit to drink already. He was on the edge, but not over the edge."After a few seconds of idle small talk, the dark-haired man ventured back to a Terminal 2 waiting area, where on Thursday afternoon passengers were boarding Air Canada Flight 792, bound for Toronto."He was loud and talking a lot," said Mr. Teubner, a California-based architect on his way to visit his wife. "It made you a little bit suspicious but not overly suspicious."In other words, he didn't think the tiny man, later identified as Javid Naghani, would be the target of a heavily armed SWAT team and two fighter jets before the afternoon was through.Other passengers took more of an interest in the man. Some even reported his behaviour to the attendants working at the check-in desk."I don't know why they let him on," one woman said.Eric Braeden, who has played Victor Newman on daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless since 1980, was reported by Entertainment Tonight to have been a passenger on the plane. Mr. Braeden is also known for his appearances on Zellers commercials.Mr. Naghani, travelling with his wife and another man to visit relatives in Toronto, stumbled into a few passengers on the way through the plane. The stench of alcohol emanated from his breath. When he finally made it to his seat near the back of the cabin, flight attendants warned him that his "obnoxious" behaviour would not be tolerated."I'm an American," passengers recall him yelling. "I'm an American."Despite the disturbance, Flight 792 pulled away from the airport on schedule, leaving the boarding gate at 12:40 p.m. and taking off from a nearby runway seven minutes later. Barring any trouble, the plane's 145 passengers would be at Pearson International Airport in five hours.On the ground, Gray Davis, the California Governor, was preparing to make his way to the airport for a press conference. He was flying to San Francisco and wanted to announce to the public that it was safe to fly again."I want to stress that flying is safer today than on Sept. 10," he said. "The best way to respond to terrorists is not to get in a hole and hide."In the sky, the 767 jet was nearing its cruising altitude over the eastern Mojave desert. As it passed over the Santa Monica mountains, the smell of smoke faintly filled the air. An alarm went off seconds later.Flight attendants quickly rushed to a locked bathroom door at the back of the plane, where Mr. Naghani appeared to have lit up a cigarette. They pleaded with him to open up, threatening to handcuff him and fly back to Los Angeles if he did not come out."They really ripped into him," said a passenger sitting near the bathroom.What happened next is still under investigation, but some people on board later told FBI agents the man in the bathroom began to yell anti-American slurs, such as "I hate Americans" and "I want to kill all the Americans on board."Tom Adams, an executive with a U.S.-based technology firm, was sitting in first class when a female attendant rushed past him. An off-duty pilot happened to be sitting there, too, and she asked him to help restrain Mr. Naghani.When the enraged man finally came out of the lavatory, he allegedly pushed a flight attendant before sitting back in his seat. Considering the events of the past two weeks, the pilot opted to turn the plane around and hand Mr. Naghani over to the police.It just happened to be the first day U.S. Air Force planes were given permission to shoot down civilian jets in emergency situations. Two F-16s showed up to escort the plane back to Los Angeles, but only the pilots knew they were there."The pilot looked shaken after we landed," Mr. Adams said. "He knew that he had an escort backing him up."But the passengers, who couldn't see the fighter planes out the window, took a little longer to realize the severity of the situation."We were obviously disappointed that our flight plans were ruined and we had to waste this time, but that was it," Bruce Fitzgerald said. "But once we landed, the world changed quite dramatically."When the plane touched back down in Los Angeles at 1:39 p.m., pilots steered the craft to the western edge of the airport, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Emergency vehicles immediately surrounded the plane, but they all drove away minutes later."It was like they were leaving us to sit here for a while and see if the plane blows up," Mr. Adams said. "That's a real secure feeling."For the next 20 minutes, passengers quietly chatted among themselves, mostly about how the delay had affected their travel plans.Then a door in the back of the airplane opened and more than a dozen emergency task force officers, equipped with face shields and machine guns, burst into the cabin. After yelling at everyone to keep their heads in their laps, the officers first checked to make sure the pilots were still in the cockpit."I was kind of expecting Bruce Willis to burst through the middle somewhere," Mr. Fitzgerald said.Mr. Naghani, an Iranian living legally in the United States, was the next target. With a gun pointed at his head, the SWAT team led him to the airport police station, where he was charged with interfering with a flight crew. He was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate last night.Officials also detained his wife, Rosa Hinojos, and a man they were with, but both were released after questioning."I was handcuffed all over like I am a terrorist," Ms. Hinojos said later. "This is not the way to treat residents. This is the United States. My husband and I are not terrorists."He may not be a terrorist, but court records show Mr. Naghani, who owns janitorial businesses in California, has had run-ins with the law before.In 1995, he was sentenced to 36- months probation and two days in Los Angeles County jail for manufacturing and possessing dangerous weapons. Four years later, he spent 15 days in jail after police found him with a radar detector in his car. Police also charged him with resisting arrest during that incident, but that charge was dismissed in court.After Mr. Naghani was scooped from the plane, the rest of the passengers were boarded on to a bus and brought to a large room, where more than 40 FBI agents were waiting to question them."They asked us to raise our hands if we had anything to say about the incident," Mr. Teubner said.Two hours later, the passengers were bused back to Terminal 2. It would be another 10 hours before they boarded another plane for Toronto.Air Canada gave everyone a $10 voucher to use at the terminal food vendors.Most of the stranded spent the day reading, interrupted often by people who wanted to hear their version of what happened."This wouldn't have been a story a month ago," Mr. Adams said. "But it is now." http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010929/712329.html
Damian Dovarganes, The Associated PressTwo F-16 fighter jets escort an Air Canada jet, not seen, as it returns to Los Angeles where police took a passenger into custody. Robert Teubner was reading a newspaper in the Los Angeles International Airport when a man in a yellow shirt sat on the bar stool beside him and ordered a glass of red wine."He clinked glasses with me," Mr. Teubner said yesterday. "I assumed he had a bit to drink already. He was on the edge, but not over the edge."After a few seconds of idle small talk, the dark-haired man ventured back to a Terminal 2 waiting area, where on Thursday afternoon passengers were boarding Air Canada Flight 792, bound for Toronto."He was loud and talking a lot," said Mr. Teubner, a California-based architect on his way to visit his wife. "It made you a little bit suspicious but not overly suspicious."In other words, he didn't think the tiny man, later identified as Javid Naghani, would be the target of a heavily armed SWAT team and two fighter jets before the afternoon was through.Other passengers took more of an interest in the man. Some even reported his behaviour to the attendants working at the check-in desk."I don't know why they let him on," one woman said.Eric Braeden, who has played Victor Newman on daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless since 1980, was reported by Entertainment Tonight to have been a passenger on the plane. Mr. Braeden is also known for his appearances on Zellers commercials.Mr. Naghani, travelling with his wife and another man to visit relatives in Toronto, stumbled into a few passengers on the way through the plane. The stench of alcohol emanated from his breath. When he finally made it to his seat near the back of the cabin, flight attendants warned him that his "obnoxious" behaviour would not be tolerated."I'm an American," passengers recall him yelling. "I'm an American."Despite the disturbance, Flight 792 pulled away from the airport on schedule, leaving the boarding gate at 12:40 p.m. and taking off from a nearby runway seven minutes later. Barring any trouble, the plane's 145 passengers would be at Pearson International Airport in five hours.On the ground, Gray Davis, the California Governor, was preparing to make his way to the airport for a press conference. He was flying to San Francisco and wanted to announce to the public that it was safe to fly again."I want to stress that flying is safer today than on Sept. 10," he said. "The best way to respond to terrorists is not to get in a hole and hide."In the sky, the 767 jet was nearing its cruising altitude over the eastern Mojave desert. As it passed over the Santa Monica mountains, the smell of smoke faintly filled the air. An alarm went off seconds later.Flight attendants quickly rushed to a locked bathroom door at the back of the plane, where Mr. Naghani appeared to have lit up a cigarette. They pleaded with him to open up, threatening to handcuff him and fly back to Los Angeles if he did not come out."They really ripped into him," said a passenger sitting near the bathroom.What happened next is still under investigation, but some people on board later told FBI agents the man in the bathroom began to yell anti-American slurs, such as "I hate Americans" and "I want to kill all the Americans on board."Tom Adams, an executive with a U.S.-based technology firm, was sitting in first class when a female attendant rushed past him. An off-duty pilot happened to be sitting there, too, and she asked him to help restrain Mr. Naghani.When the enraged man finally came out of the lavatory, he allegedly pushed a flight attendant before sitting back in his seat. Considering the events of the past two weeks, the pilot opted to turn the plane around and hand Mr. Naghani over to the police.It just happened to be the first day U.S. Air Force planes were given permission to shoot down civilian jets in emergency situations. Two F-16s showed up to escort the plane back to Los Angeles, but only the pilots knew they were there."The pilot looked shaken after we landed," Mr. Adams said. "He knew that he had an escort backing him up."But the passengers, who couldn't see the fighter planes out the window, took a little longer to realize the severity of the situation."We were obviously disappointed that our flight plans were ruined and we had to waste this time, but that was it," Bruce Fitzgerald said. "But once we landed, the world changed quite dramatically."When the plane touched back down in Los Angeles at 1:39 p.m., pilots steered the craft to the western edge of the airport, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Emergency vehicles immediately surrounded the plane, but they all drove away minutes later."It was like they were leaving us to sit here for a while and see if the plane blows up," Mr. Adams said. "That's a real secure feeling."For the next 20 minutes, passengers quietly chatted among themselves, mostly about how the delay had affected their travel plans.Then a door in the back of the airplane opened and more than a dozen emergency task force officers, equipped with face shields and machine guns, burst into the cabin. After yelling at everyone to keep their heads in their laps, the officers first checked to make sure the pilots were still in the cockpit."I was kind of expecting Bruce Willis to burst through the middle somewhere," Mr. Fitzgerald said.Mr. Naghani, an Iranian living legally in the United States, was the next target. With a gun pointed at his head, the SWAT team led him to the airport police station, where he was charged with interfering with a flight crew. He was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate last night.Officials also detained his wife, Rosa Hinojos, and a man they were with, but both were released after questioning."I was handcuffed all over like I am a terrorist," Ms. Hinojos said later. "This is not the way to treat residents. This is the United States. My husband and I are not terrorists."He may not be a terrorist, but court records show Mr. Naghani, who owns janitorial businesses in California, has had run-ins with the law before.In 1995, he was sentenced to 36- months probation and two days in Los Angeles County jail for manufacturing and possessing dangerous weapons. Four years later, he spent 15 days in jail after police found him with a radar detector in his car. Police also charged him with resisting arrest during that incident, but that charge was dismissed in court.After Mr. Naghani was scooped from the plane, the rest of the passengers were boarded on to a bus and brought to a large room, where more than 40 FBI agents were waiting to question them."They asked us to raise our hands if we had anything to say about the incident," Mr. Teubner said.Two hours later, the passengers were bused back to Terminal 2. It would be another 10 hours before they boarded another plane for Toronto.Air Canada gave everyone a $10 voucher to use at the terminal food vendors.Most of the stranded spent the day reading, interrupted often by people who wanted to hear their version of what happened."This wouldn't have been a story a month ago," Mr. Adams said. "But it is now." http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010929/712329.html