An Alaska Airlines passenger faces the possibility of spending up to 20-years in prison for urinating in his seat, refusing to wear a face mask and interfering with flight crew. Landon Perry Grier, 24, of Canon City was returning to Colorado after a stint of working in a goldmine in Alaska when he was arrested by FBI agents at Denver International Airport following Tuesday’s incident.
According to an affidavit filed in the United States District Court of Colorado in Denver, the suspect told FBI agents shortly after being arrested that he had downed three to four beers, as well as a couple of shots before boarding his connecting flight from Seattle to Denver.
Landon also said he had taken over the counter painkillers and that he had no recollection of urinating on his seat or lashing out at the flight attendants onboard Alaska Airlines flight 1474.
One female flight attendant told the FBI that she first noticed Grier because he wasn’t wearing a face mask in accordance with a federal mandate and airline policy. She asked him eight to ten times to put on his face mask but he ignored her before “aggressively” swatting her hand away after she prodded his shoulder in an attempt to get his attention.
Later on in the flight, two other female flight attendants responded to a call bell where other passengers pointed out that Grier was urinating in his seat area. One of the flight attendants noticed Grier was exposing himself but when she asked him to cover himself up he responded by telling her: “I have to pee”.
Several other passengers had to be reseated and the flight attendants said that dealing with Grier delayed their cabin preparations for landing. They would, later on, realize that the plane had to make an emergency landing in Denver because of an unrelated mechanical issue.
The flight crew told the FBI that Grier’s actions had endangered the safety of all the other passengers and crew on board the flight and one pilot said he diverted attention away from the emergency landing preparation to deal with the issues in the cabin.
If found guilty, Grier faces a maximum sentence of up to 20-years imprisonment, as well as a fine of up to $250,000.
Photo Credit: Philip Pilosian / Shutterstock.com
I wish the reporting had a little bit more intelligence behind it. The probability is that he will get a fine and probation. A National Mandate is not a law. “Swatting aggressively” at someone who has touched you without your permission is technically repelling an assault. As to the pilot deviating his attention…wtf he needs to stay in the cockpit flying and not allow himself to be distracted by an obvous drunk passenger. In truth someone should have knocked him the f#&k out but really this is a bunch of politically induced Covid hype and overreach to support socialist mantra. He’s a miner, they work hard, some drink hard, most are great people and he is just another average blue collar probably with a drinking problem. No less and definitely no more. Because they will find that he most likely voted for Trump instead of the Manchurian Candidate this will cost him about $20,000 in legal fees and a year of hell for basically what is an everyday disturbing the peace violation anywhere else.
Hi there. Thanks for your comment. The reporting and allegations are based entirely on the affidavit presented by the FBI to the court. The article was published without any intended political bias.
You nailed it
Well Bruce, If I take all your speculative sentences out of your comment there’s nothing left. Did you mean to say something here? Something about the article you read? No need to add your political, social, or economic analysis; it wasn’t part of the article and shouldn’t be part of your comment. Standing by for your comment on the article.