An intoxicated New York woman accused of physically and verbally attacking the crew of a JetBlue Airways flight on Tuesday had previous run-ins while flying or trying to fly, an FBI agent testified today in U.S. District Court in Denver.
The woman, 35-year-old Christina Elizabeth Szele of Woodside, N.Y., was on JetBlue Flight 643 from New York to San Francisco when, according to crew and fellow passengers, she became uncontrollable after a flight attendant took matches and a lit cigarette from her.
Passengers are not allowed to smoke during flights.
The plane’s pilot, John Shanahan, diverted the flight to Denver after the crew reported Szele was unruly and scaring other passengers.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Joel Nishida testified that the June 17 incident involving Szele came in the wake of two other run-ins.
In August 2007, Szele was caught smoking in an airplane lavatory on a San Francisco to New York flight. She apologized, and there were no further episodes on that flight.
In a another incident earlier this month, she showed up intoxicated and was combative at a checkpoint at New York’s JFK Airport and was turned away, said Nishida.
During the hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Watanabe, a handcuffed Szele appeared relaxed and talkative.
Watanabe, at the urging of Szele’s lawyer, Kate Stimson, agreed to let Szele return to New York under strict conditions. These include that she not fly on a commercial airliner; not consume drugs or alcohol; not obtain a passport; report to a probation officer; and confine her travels to New York, California and Colorado, although she is allowed to pass through other states.
Watanabe set her bail at $10,000.
Nishida testified that Szele told him she drank two beers at home, then was served three vodka drinks on the aircraft, which Nishida confirmed with the crew.
Crew and passengers told the FBI that flight attendant Paul Whyte saw Szele smoking a cigarette as she sat in her seat in an emergency row.
When he took the cigarette away from her, she became enraged and yelled obscenities and racial epithets at Whyte, who is black, said Nishida.
She was then placed in a seat toward the front of the cabin, where she was able to break out of flex cuffs. When Whyte attempted to place a second pair of cuffs on Szele, she punched him and said she would find his address and kill him, said Nishida.
She also attacked a JetBlue ground-security coordinator who happened to be on the flight and was asked to sit next to Szele, said the FBI agent.
The security coordinator was kicked in the leg, punched in the back and had his hand scratched by Szele, Nishida said.
Troy Eid, U.S. Attorney in Denver, who watched Szele’s detention hearing, said her alleged actions illustrate the serious problem of assaults on airline crews.
“I don’t know why people feel that anything goes on airplanes,” said Eid. “We are not going to put up with this stuff on airplanes.”
Eid said airline crews should not have to show up for work fearing for their safety.
“No one should be pushed or punched. Some people think this is funny,” said Eid. “There is nothing funny about this. The message is very serious: ‘We are not going to put up with this.’ ”
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, reports of unruly passengers peaked in 2004 at 304 and declined to 134 in 2006 and 133 in 2007. There were 10 as of March 17, 2008.
FAA spokesman Les Dorr stressed that passenger incidents also are reported to local law-enforcement agencies, the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration, and that the FAA statistics are only “a piece of the pie.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
