Man accused of making threat aboard Sunwing flight 'not at fault,' father says
Kendra Mangione and Sonja Puzic, CTVNews.ca
Published Friday, July 25, 2014 10:23AM EDT
Last Updated Friday, July 25, 2014 10:26PM EDT
The father of a 25-year-old Canadian man whose alleged threats forced a Panama-bound plane to return to Toronto Friday says his son has mental health issues and is “not at fault” for what happened.
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The Sunwing plane was forced to turn around when a passenger said he wanted to bomb Canada, eyewitnesses reported.
Flight 772 departed from Toronto at 7 a.m. Friday, heading toward Panama City with 181 passengers, two infants and a crew of six on board.
Passenger Bettina Bathe told CTV Toronto the incident unfolded not long after takeoff when a flight attendant came by to pass out headsets.
"He basically just tore a strip off her, explaining how expensive the cigarettes are here in Canada, he hates Canada," Bathe said.
"Then he said, with great expression using his hands, 'I just want to bomb Canada.'"
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It landed safely at Toronto's Pearson around 8:55 a.m., where the flight was met by authorities.
Passenger footage captured armed tactical police officers boarding flight 772 once it landed. The officers pointed their guns and yelled “Heads down! Hands up!” as they boarded the plane.
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'Extremely frightening' ordeal
Before the flight 772 passengers boarded another plane in Toronto earlier Friday, one woman said the entire experience was frightening.
“I was in the washroom and when I was trying to come out, the SWAT team shut the door on me and I was there for what it seems like an eternity,” Lorena Karim said. “And all I saw was guns … it was quite scary.”
One security expert said the video footage of tactical officers on the plane further shows that the so-called “SWAT team culture” has gotten “a little bit out of hand.”
John Thompson of the Strategic Capital Intelligence Group said the police response may have been more aggressive than what the situation called for.
“Very few people ever see the police like that and it is extremely frightening,” Thompson told CTV News Channel Friday.
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It used to be where (police) would probably send a couple of detectives on quietly and just hustle the fellow off in a low-key manner. But that sort of style is gone from policing now for about 20, 25 years and I don’t think we’ll see it back.”
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