'I Will Kill Everybody': Airline Passenger Starts Yelling Out Of Control
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A woman onboard a Southwest flight started yelling out of control and threatening to kill passengers, authorities said.
"I swear if we don't land, I will kill everybody on this [explitive] plane," the woman, who authorities identify as Valerie Curbelo, is heard saying on video.
The 24-year-old was escorted into her seat after airline officials say she tried smoking in the bathroom even altering the smoke detector.
Flight attendants forced their way in and escorted the woman back to her seat.
That's when, witnesses say, she began yelling and demanding the plane, headed from Portland to Sacramento, land at a different destination.
She then pushed a flight attendant and had to be physically restrained for the remaining 30 minutes until landing, witnesses said.
The woman was later arrested when the plane landed in Sacramento, California.
The Sacramento Sheriff's department says Curbelo lives in Sandy, Oregon. She's currently booked on three counts of felony criminal threats and her bail has been set at $75,000.
Sitting in jail, Curbelo couldn't say exactly what she was anxious about or what made her act that way.
"I don't know. It was not me. It was not me," said Curbelo when asked why she reportedly did it.
Southwest issued a statement on the incident, saying,
"Our crew in command of Flight 2943 traveling from Portland on Saturday afternoon safely landed on-time in Sacramento following an inflight disturbance. 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."
