An area man has been launched after attempting to stab a flight attendant within the neck on a Boston-bound flight, although an attacker can face life in jail for assaulting a flight’s crew member.
So why was Leominster man Francisco Torres — who on the aircraft shouted that he was “Balthazar,” his father was “Dracula,” and he would “kill all the men” on the flight — sentenced to time served (26 months in jail) and 5 years of supervised launch?
In line with the feds, Torres suffers from schizophrenia, and he was not being handled for the persona dysfunction when he tried to stab a flight attendant within the neck with a damaged metallic spoon and likewise tried to open the aircraft’s emergency exit door.
He was experiencing delusions associated to his schizophrenia prognosis again on the time of the incident in March 2023, the Massachusetts U.S. Legal professional’s workplace wrote in its sentencing memo.
“Although Torres’s mental health condition does not negate his competency nor his criminal responsibility, it does help to explain his actions,” the feds wrote.
“And the mental health evaluations suggest that with proper mental health treatment, Torres will not pose a danger to the community if sentenced to the 26 months and nine days in prison that he has been incarcerated to date,” the feds added.
His 5 years of supervised launch embody strict psychological well being monitoring and remedy circumstances, in addition to no-fly circumstances.
On March 5, 2023, Torres was a passenger on a United Airways flight from Los Angeles to Boston. About 45 minutes earlier than touchdown, the flight crew obtained an alarm within the cockpit {that a} starboard door between the primary class and coach sections of the plane was disarmed.
A flight attendant discovered that the door’s locking deal with had been moved out of the totally locked place – a few quarter of the best way towards the unlocked place – and that the emergency slide arming lever had been moved to the “disarmed” place.
A fellow flight attendant stated he had seen Torres close to the door and believed Torres had tampered with the door.
A flight attendant ended up confronting Torres about tampering with the door, and he responded by asking if there have been cameras exhibiting he had executed that. The flight attendant then notified the captain that they believed Torres posed a menace, and that the captain wanted to land the plane as quickly as potential.
Quickly after, Torres bought out of his seat and approached the starboard door the place two flight attendants had been standing within the aisle. One of many flight attendants noticed Torres mouthing one thing that he couldn’t hear.
Video taken by a passenger depicts Torres yelling at factors that he would “kill every man on this plane” and “I’m taking over this plane.”
He additionally shouted that he was “Balthazar,” that his father was Dracula, and he was ready for Homeland Safety to shoot him with each bullet of their clip in order that he may present he would survive.
“Wielding a metal spoon on which the bowl portion had been broken off to create a sharper edge, Torres approached Flight Attendant 5 and thrust the broken spoon at Flight Attendant 5 in a stabbing motion that struck Flight Attendant 5 on the area of his shirt collar and tie approximately three times,” the feds wrote.
“Passengers tackled Torres to the ground and removed the broken-off spoon from his hand, and passengers and flight staff held Torres down with their bodies for the remainder of the flight through landing,” the feds added.
Torres was instantly taken into custody upon the flight’s arrival to Boston.
“He admitted to knowing that if he had been successful in opening the door many people would die, although he expressed that either he or God would have come back and saved the ‘good people,’ ” the feds wrote.
When he was taken to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, he attacked a guard — repeatedly punching him within the face, prosecutors say.
Torres finally pleaded responsible to 1 rely of interference and tried interference with flight crew members and attendants utilizing a harmful weapon.
Within the feds’ sentencing memo, the prosecutors be aware the “unique circumstances” on this case.
“Subsequent mental health evaluations have indicated that Torres suffers from schizophrenia, but, when properly treated, does not pose a threat to the safety of others,” the feds wrote. “Notably, his mental health condition was reasonably well-managed for the bulk of his adult life prior to this incident, and he did not have any issues in pretrial custody after receiving mental health treatment.”
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