Plane diverted after passenger exposes himself and pees in aisle
A plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a man allegedly exposed himself and urinated in the aisle.
According to a release from the US Attorney’s Office in the Western District of New York, Neil McCarthy, 25, of Oregon, has been arrested and charged with indecent exposure. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine if found guilty.
The alleged incident occurred on July 3 onboard an American Airlines flight bound for Manchester, New Hampshire. According to a report, McCarthy allegedly “exposed himself and urinated in the aisle of the aircraft while the plane was in flight.”
The plane was then diverted to Buffalo, New York, where local police were called.
“When the flight landed, an officer boarded the airplane and spoke to a flight attendant, who said that McCarthy had exposed himself and urinated on the flight,” reads the release. “McCarthy was taken into custody and escorted off the plane.”
After a court appearance, McCarthy was “released on his own recognizance.”
The incident was investigated by the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority Police, under the direction of Chief Brian Patterson and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia.
The incident is among a string of bizarre traveller behaviour in recent months.
In March, a flight travelling from London, UK, to Newark, New Jersey, was diverted after a man allegedly “became belligerent and intimidating toward him as well and stated that he would ‘mess up the plane.'”
The man was ordered to pay a US$20,638 fine.
In May, a woman was filmed inside an overhead bin used for passengers’ carry-on luggage. According to aviation news site FL360aero, the incident occurred on a Southwest Airlines flight from Albuquerque to Phoenix.