Passenger gets ‘unruly’ over line for airplane bathroom. He now faces charges in KC
An Alaska Airlines passenger became “unruly” when a flight attendant wouldn’t allow him to use a bathroom in first class, forcing the cross-country flight to make an unexpected stop in Kansas City, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Now that passenger, identified in court records as Jwan Curry, 41, of Hamburg, New Jersey, has been charged in U.S. District Court in Kansas City with one count of interfering with a flight attendant, prosecutors said in a statement.
The plane was about two hours into its nonstop trip from New York to Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon.
According to court records, Curry “became agitated, started swearing loudly” and pacing up and down the aisle while waiting to use the bathroom in the rear of the aircraft. Curry had wanted to use a bathroom at the front of the plane, court records said, but the flight attendant told him it was unavailable.
Prosecutors said Curry returned to his seat but continued to act out.
Passengers sitting nearby soon called flight attendants over. Witnesses reported that Curry was punching the seat and himself, and saying he was going to “kill everyone” and “blow up” the plane, court records said.
Pilots decided to divert the flight to Kansas City International Airport.
Curry was restrained for the remainder of the flight, and when the plane landed, police officers took him into custody.
In an interview with FBI agents, Curry stated he never threatened the flight attendant or passengers. Curry explained he became upset because he thought it was unfair that the flight attendant would not allow passengers to use the front lavatory, which had no line and appeared to be unoccupied. Prosecutors later said in a news release the bathroom was being used by crew members at that time. Curry added that he felt mistreated due to his race.
Curry remained in custody Friday at the Platte County jail pending an initial court appearance.
An attorney has not yet been listed for Curry in public records.
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 5:20 PM.
