Passenger arrested after making death threats on plane

Passenger arrested after making death threats on plane

A woman has been filmed threatening to kill everyone on board a Southwest Airlines flight on Saturday.

Glad you weren’t on it? Us too.

Despite the death threats, the plane didn’t have to emergency land as there was only half an hour of the flight remaining, according to CBS Sacramento, who received the video.

 

In the video, 24-year-old Valerie Curbelo is seen screaming that she would “kill f*cking everyone on this f*ucking plane” before being restrained, where she stayed for the remainder of the flight.

Curbelo had boarded in Portland and was headed for Sacramento when, mid-flight, she decided to have a smoke in the bathrooms, where she attempted to alter the smoke detector.

The passenger who shot the video told CBS Sacramento that she was ordered back to her seat, but started yelling irrationally, making death threats and demanding that the plane land immediately.

After becoming physical with a flight attendant, Curbelo was restrained for the rest of the flight.

Half an hour later, she was met at the gate by police when the plane landed – and was arrested and taken to Sacramento County Jail, where she was charged with making criminal threats.

Speaking to CBS from the jail, Curbelo said she tried to smoke in the bathroom because of her anxiety. She couldn’t explain why she threatened to kill anyone.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It was not me. It was not me.”

In a statement sent to CBS Portland affiliate KOIN-TV, Southwest Airlines said the passenger in question “violated federal laws by both smoking onboard an aircraft and by tampering with a smoke detector in an aircraft restroom.”

The plane had 136 customers on-board in total but managed to land safely despite the chaotic incident.

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