THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020454
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 59 lines
A commercial airliner bound for Puerto Rico with 240 passengers was forced to land in Norfolk on Wednesday after a passenger tried to break into the cockpit, punched attendants and emptied a bag of urine onto passengers and flight attendants.
The American Airlines flight was flying from New York when the man grabbed a flight attendant by the throat and began screaming to passengers that ``they were going to die,'' gesturing as if he were shooting them with a gun, according to papers filed in federal court.
The FBI charged the passenger - Teodosio Morales Feliciano, 69, of Puerto Rico - with assaulting a flight attendant, thereby interfering with the attendant's duties, a federal crime. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
In a court appearance Thursday, Feliciano did not wear a shirt or shoes and had one pants leg rolled up. His attorney, C. Jay Robbins, who is fluent in Spanish, said he has been unable to communicate with his client.
``What I was saying to him didn't seem to register,'' Robbins said. ``I'm not able to identify anything he is saying in Spanish or English. I can't understand him.''
In court motions asking for a physical and psychiatric evaluation, prosecutors described Feliciano as irrational and unable to communicate.
The attack started at about 11 a.m., the FBI said, while the plane was en route to San Juan. The captain of the Airbus decided to divert the plane and made an emergency landing at Norfolk International Airport at about 11:10. There were no injuries, and passengers reboarded and continued their flight at around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Feliciano was restrained by crew members and passengers en route. They handcuffed him using ``flexi-cuffs,'' kept in the cockpit for emergencies.
FBI agents interviewed about 30 passengers and crew members, including supervisory flight attendant Eddie Irizarry. Irizarry told agents that Feliciano had ``punched him in the face and grabbed him by the throat while pushing him up against the wall,'' court records show.
Irizarry told agents Feliciano ``spit on several crew and passengers and threw his own urine on these individuals,'' according to a federal criminal complaint. ``The urine had been contained in a . . . bag that this passenger had worn.''
Feliciano also allegedly cursed and screamed, mostly in Spanish, took his shirt off, punched a flight attendant and threw a pitcher of water on another. Agents interviewed the man in Spanish before arresting him.
Dr. Valerie Stallings, Norfolk health director, said there is usually little risk of contracting an infectious disease - such as AIDS or hepatitis - through contact with urine.
Stallings is not involved in the Feliciano case.
``We take these things very seriously,'' said FBI spokesperson Bo McFarland. ``This type of behavior presents a hazard to flight crews trying to operate an airplane.'' MEMO: Staff writer Marie Joyce contributed to this story.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT AIRPLANE AIRLINE ARREST by CNB