Southwest Airlines said Sunday that a passenger had a bit of a tantrum. The woman can be seen on video threatening to kill everyone on board a plane.
“I will kill everybody on this fucking plane,” said the passenger.
“Our Crew in command of Flight 2943 traveling from Portland on Saturday afternoon safely landed on-time in Sacramento following an inflight disturbance,” KOIN 6 told Southwest Airlines in a Sunday report. “Our reports from Flight Attendants indicate a Customer violated federal laws by both smoking onboard an aircraft and by tampering with a smoke detector in an aircraft restroom. Our Crew enforced the regulation and that was followed by the passenger outburst. The safety of our Crew and Passengers is our top priority and we take all threats seriously. The Pilots declared an emergency to receive priority handling from air traffic controllers, and our Crew handled the situation onboard until the plane landed and local authorities stepped in. The flight carried 136 Customers and a Crew of five.”
Valerie Curbelo, 24, was arrested for the incident. Sacramento County Jail records viewed by Law&Crime show that she was booked Saturday on one count of threats to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily harm. She remains in custody in lieu of $75,000 bail, and is scheduled for court on Tuesday.
She told CBS-Sacramento in a Monday report that she smoked in the plane bathroom because of anxiety.
When asked, Curbelo said she didn’t know why she made the threat.
“It was not me,” she said. “It was not me.”
[Screengrab via KOIN]