A passenger who tried to break into an airplane cockpit last week had been recently under the influence of methamphetamine before he jumped from the moving plane in Los Angeles.
Luis Antonio Victoria Dominguez of La Paz, Mexico, broke his leg on Friday when he opened the plane’s emergency exit and jumped to the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport. He underwent surgery and is expected to appear in federal court this week on a charge of interference with a flight crew, which could bring 20 years in prison if he is declared guilty.
It was not clear yet if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. A criminal complaint released on Monday gave new details about the incident and his life in the days prior.
This person aged 33 years arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the complaint says. His plan was to get to Salt Lake City, but he did not have a connecting flight. He spent the night at a hotel in downtown Los Angeles after drinking several beers and buying of crystal meth for USD 20, he told the FBI.
The next day, he continued to smoke the crystal meth and decided to fly to Utah. He smoked more of the drug before heading to the airport on Thursday but ultimately missed his flight and wandered the streets throughout the night.
On Friday, he missed a his flight again but was rescheduled to board United Airlines Flight 5365, operated by SkyWest Airlines, to Salt Lake City. He took his seat and began to doze as he “was coming down from all the drugs he had used the last couple of days,” the complaint says.
Then he heard other passengers laugh and say they were going to a different destination. He panicked. He ran at full speed toward a flight attendant at the front of the plane around 7 pm and said he wasn’t feeling well and needed to get off the flight.
The flight attendant said the plane was about to take off and they began to struggle, the complaint says.
He began pounding on the cockpit’s door and kept on trying to open the locked doorknob. When the pilots — who were confused by the banging — did not open the door, he wrenched open the emergency exit door and the emergency slide deployed, according to the complaint.
