A man who drank heavily on an Atlanta to San Francisco AirTran flight and later grabbed a flight attendant when she refused to serve him more wine has been sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $14,584.
The man, Muhammad Abu Tahir, was taken off the flight by FBI agents at the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport following the incident.
While the AirTran flight was still in the air, the North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two F-16s to escort the commercial airliner to Colorado Springs.
Tahir, 47, of Glen Allen, Va., is originally from Pakistan but is a legal U.S. resident.
During Tahir’s sentencing hearing today in Denver for one count of interference with a flight crew, federal Judge Robert Blackburn ordered that Tahir serve three years of supervised on his release. Blackburn also ordered that Tahir pay for transportation to the Bureau of Prison facility where he will serve time.
According to a FBI affidavit, Tahir drank at least five small bottles of alcohol. After being refused additional wine, Tahir locked himself in a lavatory.
Within a few minutes, according to the affidavit, the door flew open and Tahir threw his socks and shoes outside the door and closed it.
A short time later, he opened the door and it appeared he was shaving without a shirt on.
When the flight attendants asked him to leave the bathroom, he reportedly refused and said he was being “disrespected”.
A flight attendant told the FBI that Tahir grabbed her arms and hands and only released his grasp when a passenger intervened.
To contain Tahir, the flight crew moved two beverage carts into aisle and placed a third cart near the cockpit to protect the pilot. They also placed a carbon-dioxide extinguisher in the back of the plane in case they had to use it on the unruly passenger.
Tahir denied he ever touched any of the flights attendants.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
