An unruly JetBlue passenger was arrested during an unscheduled stop in Minneapolis on Sunday after he allegedly caused a major disturbance during a flight from New York City to San Francisco.
JetBlue Flight 915 was “forced to divert to Minneapolis after a customer on board began acting erratically and aggressively toward crew members and other customers,” the airline said in a statement. “The flight was met by law enforcement, the customer was removed and the flight continued on to San Francisco.”
Witnesses said the man was arguing with passengers, snorting a white substance, making frequent trips to the bathroom and refusing to put on a mask.
One passenger posted a video recorded from his seat on the flight Sunday, in which a crew member can be heard describing the suspect’s antics.
The suspect was annoying a female passenger with “unwanted touching,” and made several trips to the bathroom, the flight attendant said. The suspect also refused to put on a mask, “started antagonizing other passengers” and gestured “stabbing motions” toward one person, the flight attendant said.
He described the suspect as “erratic” and said he was “snorting a white substance.”
The passengers in the video are silent through most of the flight attendant’s speech. They all begin to chatter immediately after the white substance is mentioned.
“Oh, OK!” one person can be heard saying.
The flight attendant then says a bag of the white substance was found at the man’s seat.
“It was decided that all four flight attendants felt uncomfortable with what was going on,” he said. “This was the closest place to go, so we as a team made the decision to come here.”
Witnesses told ABC 7 that the man also yelled racial slurs at others on the flight, and said things that left many confused.
“When he got to his seat he started yelling that he wanted a white Porsche,” witness Bob McKanzie said. “I don’t know who he was talking to, but that’s what he was saying.”
“He kept walking back and forth to the bathroom,” said Delaney Washington, who was sitting beside the bathroom. “He had no shoes on and he smelled awful.”
He also broke into song at one point, according to witness Salma Srour.
“He smelled very strongly,” Srour said. “It was a very pungent smell, and he kept walking to the bathroom. He wasn’t wearing a mask.”
Mark Anthony Scerbo, 42, of Mechanicville, N.Y., was arrested at the airport on a drug possession charge, jail records show. He was still in custody on Tuesday and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
The flight continued on its route and arrived nearly two hours late, flight records showed.
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