In Boston on Monday, March 31, 2015, a Haitian national who was subdued by Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) on an American Airlines flight last year was sentenced in federal court to one year of supervised release, a fine of $1,000 and restitution of $6,303 to American Airlines. He had previously pleaded guilty to interference with flight crew members.
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Edmond Alexandre, 60, a Haitian national residing in Paris and father of five was returning home after visiting family in Haiti. He disrupted the transatlantic American Airlines flight AA Flight 62 from Miami to Paris on August 27, 2014 when he “became disruptive and started arguing with other passengers” according to the FBI Press Release.
His verbal confrontation with a passenger and flight attendant escalated when he laid hands on the FA.
Alexandre reportedly told the passenger in front of him that her reclined seat was hurting his legs. She didn’t budge. The interaction brought a flight attendant who attempted to intervene. Alexandre followed the crew member down the aisle and grabbed his arm, at which point FAMs identified themselves and detained him.
The flight was diverted to Boston where he was arrested for interfering with a flight crew. Other passengers eventually continued on to Paris approximately four hours later.
During Alexandre’s initial arrest, it was reported that his attorney called the incident an overreaction by the FAMs. I could see the attorney’s point had there only been some verbal arguing and the matter worked itself out, but once he made physical contact with the flight attendant (battery) in an unwanted and unwarranted manner, the situation changed. The FAMs seemed to be in the right to halt a potentially greater incident from developing and escalating.
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