Man on flight allegedly threatened to kill baby
Prosecutors have filed a motion to hold the man without bail
A passenger who was behaving erratically aboard a Northwest flight that arrived in Honolulu on Friday allegedly threatened to kill a baby who apparently had offended him, investigators said.
Santiago Lol Tizol, 37, did not specify how the baby slighted him, but told fellow passengers and flight attendants several times that the baby was bothering him and that he was "going to kill the baby," according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Karl Swenson.
Tizol was detained at the federal detention center over the weekend and made an initial appearance yesterday before federal magistrate Kevin Chang.
Tizol was charged in a federal complaint with interfering with a flight crew, a felony punishable by a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Shipley said the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI view any incident involving disruption of a flight crew as "serious" and will rigorously prosecute these cases.
Prosecutors have filed a motion requesting that Tizol be detained without bail because he is charged with a crime of violence and is a flight risk and a danger to the community, Shipley said. Chang is expected to hear that request at a hearing Thursday.
According to the FBI affidavit, a passenger identified only as D.H. and sitting next to Tizol overheard him saying that he was "going to kill the baby" and was wrapping what looked like a telephone cord around his hands about the time he was making the threatening comment.
After the comment, the crew was in the process of moving the baby and his parents to the back of the plane when Tizol allegedly jumped up and ran toward the front of the plane. After he was tackled by several passengers and the flight crew, Tizol allegedly said, "I got some bad juice, I got some bad juice."
A flight attendant noticed Tizol behaving strangely about an hour into the flight, when a female passenger sitting next to him asked to be moved to another seat.
Tizol apparently told the flight attendant that "the boy" had disrespected him and appeared very agitated, the affidavit said.
Tizol moved to another seat without permission and refused to move back. He continued to resist the flight crew's orders even after he was told police would arrest him and after the flight attendant gave him a card notifying him that he was breaking federal law.
The captain said Tizol "definitely interfered with the flight crew" and that they considered restraining him because of his behavior and refusal to comply with the flight crew's orders, before he made a move toward the cockpit The crew even called ahead to the Honolulu Airport's sheriff's detail to notify them of the problem.
Shipley declined to comment whether Tizol was under the influence of drugs at the time or was suffering from a mental illness. The case is still being investigated and likely will be presented to a federal grand jury.
