From standby to stowaway, a Texas-bound passenger now faced felony charges for an unauthorized attempt to get home earlier.
(Video: KHOU 11)
Twice-bumped passenger 26-year-old Wicliff Yves Fleurizard was done waiting for a flight to Austin, Texas March 17 and now faces up to five year in prison for allegedly acting on his impatience. According to court documents filed by the Salt Lake City Police Department, on his second day of waiting to board a Southwest Airlines flight, the man allegedly employed some spycraft to adjust his itinerary.
Seen in surveillance video at the Salt Lake City International Airport, Fleurizard had first been bumped Saturday and again Sunday morning as he utilized a “buddy pass” to attempt to get on the first available seat aboard an Austin-bound Southwest flight.
It was then he reportedly began snapping pictures of other passengers boarding passes to gain entry aboard an earlier Delta Airlines flight, even shaking the hands of a couple individuals after seemingly snagging one digital ticket to ride.
CAUGHT IN THE ACT: Watch a suspected stowaway snap a picture of a passenger’s boarding pass to get on a plane without paying. Flight attendants later discovered the man hiding in the aircraft’s bathroom. https://t.co/Hu0qcaYI1T pic.twitter.com/DnzXULSMCJ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 27, 2024
“After FLEURIZARD boarded the Aircraft, he was observed opening the emergency equipment storage door. At this juncture a flight attendant assisted him to the lavatory located at the front of the aircraft,” the affidavit stated of the man’s reported actions after boarding.
The document detailed that, after waiting throughout boarding in the restroom, he then walked through the plane to the rear restroom after which a “flight attendant noticed that there were no seats available on the plane” and approached him.
With the doors secured and the flight beginning to taxi to the runaway, the attendant quickly discovered that Fleurizard’s claims did not match their records and the plane returned to the gate whereupon he was arrested and charged with felony stowaway.
“Fleurizard admitted he had made a mistake and was only trying to get home,” the SLCPD indicated in the affidavit.
Meanwhile, the girl whose boarding pass the man had allegedly duplicated to get on the flight had been flagged when it was her turn to board. However, employees allowed the girl to board instead of investigating the issue.
In a statement issued by Delta Airlines, a spokesperson said they are “cooperating with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies regarding and investigation” of the incident.
“We defer any additional questions to law enforcement,” added the spokesperson.
The Transportation Security Administration had initiated its own federal case review of the incident, SLCPD indicated.
Having told officers he was trying to make it back to Texas in time to visit family visiting from Florida after he had taken a snowboarding trip, Fleurizard was now expected to undergo a mental health evaluation for his alleged actions at the Utah airport. Should he be convicted of felony stowaway, he faces a sentence up to five years behind bars.
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