Mass. man allegedly tried to open door during flight and stab flight attendant

BOSTON (TCD) — A 33-year-old man is accused of trying to open the emergency exit door and attempting to stab a flight attendant amid a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, on Sunday, March 5, around 45 minutes before landing, a cockpit alarm went off, alerting flight crew that a side door had been disarmed. A flight attendant went to investigate and reportedly noticed the door’s “locking handle had been moved out of the fully locked position.”

The Attorney’s Office said the emergency slide arming lever “had been moved to the ‘disarmed’ position,” and the flight attendant secured the door and emergency slide before notifying the captain and the rest of the flight crew.

Another flight attendant reportedly saw Francisco Severo Torres beside the door and “believed Torres had tampered with the door.”

When the flight attendant asked Torres about the situation, he allegedly said he wanted to know if he was caught on security camera footage doing so.

The flight attendant reportedly notified the captain that they believed Torres was a threat to the flight and “that the captain needed to land the aircraft as soon as possible.”

Afterward, Torres allegedly got up from his seat and walked toward two flight attendants near the starboard side door, and he “thrust towards one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon, hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times.”

According to a criminal complaint obtained by WCVB-TV, Torres told officials he broke a spoon in half in the restroom to create the makeshift weapon.

Passengers of the United Airlines flight reportedly tackled and restrained Torres with the help of the flight crew, and he was taken into custody once the flight landed in Boston.

During interviews, the Attorney’s Office said, “Passengers who were aboard the flight reported that Torres asked a fellow passenger where on the safety card it showed where the door handle was located during the flight attendants’ safety briefing prior to takeoff,” and that “Torres was seen pacing in a galley before attacking the flight attendant.”

According to the Attorney’s Office, Torres faces a charge of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon. He faces a possible sentence of up to life in prison and may have to pay a fine of up to $250,000.

In a statement obtained by WCVB, Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said, “Violence has no place anywhere and certainly not in a closed cabin flying several miles in the air. Aviation’s first responders are charged with the safety of everyone onboard.”

Nelson continued, “When incidents like this happen, it not only risks the safety of the crew involved, it takes away from Flight Attendants’ ability to respond to medical, safety, or security emergencies. Bottom line: it puts everyone at risk and there’s zero tolerance for that.”