Federal authorities released new information about an unruly passenger who, they say, forced a cross-country United Airlines flight to divert to Omaha’s Eppley Airfield on Monday.
Charges filed Tuesday in federal district court in Nebraska identify the woman as Maria Rita Manzoni. Authorities seek to formally charge her with interfering with a flight crew and its attendants after she allegedly began screaming of other passengers’ terrorist plots and had to be restrained by flight attendants and passengers.
The charge, a felony, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Manzoni, whose age was not disclosed, appeared in court on Tuesday. She will be released into the care of her mother or a friend, who will take her back to Maryland. Manzoni cannot use public transportation as a condition of her release, and she must surrender her passport.
Her red-eye flight left San Francisco with 148 passengers at 2:05 a.m. CDT Monday, according to flight records and airline officials. The government’s complaint said the incident began in midair at approximately 3 a.m., when the woman in seat 21A pushed her call button.
She told the flight attendant she felt ill, and the attendant suggested the woman visit a lavatory at the back of the aircraft.
As she walked back, court documents allege that Manzoni told the flight attendant that the other passengers in the row she’d left behind were terrorists.
The woman told the flight attendant that one of the passengers had a bungee cord and voice recorder, while another had a GPS system and some cellophane. The flight attendant spoke with the row’s other passengers and looked at the items, the complaint said, but determined that none posed a threat.
The woman took a seat in the back of the aircraft — near the flight attendant — but became concerned when the attendant began using her laptop, authorities said. The accused woman started talking to the attendant, but the attendant became uncomfortable and left to find help.
Manzoni then demanded to return to her original seat, authorities allege. At this point, authorities say Manzoni saw a flight attendant squeezing a stress ball while holding a toiletries kit on her lap. Manzoni became hysterical, authorities said, screaming “terrorist” while she tried to take the kit from the attendant’s lap.
She then began pushing the flight attendant call button, pointing at other attendants and shouting that they were terrorists.
Manzoni then started walking toward the front of the aircraft, the documents allege, prompting the flight attendants to ask passengers for help. The woman made it to the first-class cabin before she was subdued by two male passengers and restrained by flight attendants.
The plane was diverted to Omaha, where it landed at 4:45 a.m. Authorities removed her from the plane. The remaining passengers left Omaha for Washington about 7 a.m.
No injuries were reported.
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