DENVER – A Colorado man accused of disrupting an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Denver by refusing to wear a mask and then getting up and peeing in the cabin is facing a federal charge of interference with flight crew and escorts with a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a possible fine of $ 250,000.
The FBI arrested Canon City’s 24-year-old Landon Grier after the flight landed on March 9, according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court in Denver.
The affidavit of FBI Special Agent Martin Daniell III, who interviewed Grier and crew members, says Grier appeared to be trying to sleep, but turned down a servant when she repeatedly asked him to put on his mask, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A passenger later called servants because Grier was urinating in his seat, Daniell wrote.
The officer said Grier had told him that he had had several beers and had “a few shots” before boarding the flight, fell asleep on the plane and “woken up by shouts from the flight attendants who told him that he was peeing. “
“He said he couldn’t remember hitting the flight attendant and didn’t know if he was peeing,” Daniell said.
Grier appeared in court on Thursday. A federal public defender was appointed to represent him. He was released on $ 10,000 bail pending his next trial on March 26.
Public defenders do not comment on current cases, and a call to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver for comment was not immediately answered late Friday.
In a statement, Alaska Airlines said, “We will not tolerate any nuisance on board our aircraft or at any of the airports we serve.”