Joseph Emerson.
Anoff-duty Alaska Airlines pilotwas charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after authorities allege he tried to shut down a plane’s engines during a flight Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that an attorney for Emerson pleaded not guilty on his client’s behalf at a Tuesday arraignment.
The charging documents against Emerson provide law enforcement’s account of what happened on board Alaska Airlines Flight 2059.
Emerson says, ‘I am not OK,’ tries to turn engines off
As the flight passed between Astoria and Portland, Ore., Emerson, who was sitting in the cockpit jumpseat, suddenly threw his headset, saying “I am not OK” and reached for the red engine shut-off handles, federal authorities allege in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
The on-duty pilots told authorities that Emerson needed to be “wrestled with” before he stopped what he was doing, according to the complaint. Had he pulled the handles down all the way, the engines would have shut down, meaning the plane would have only been able to glide.
Emerson was removed from the cockpit, which was then locked, and a flight emergency was declared. The plane was rerouted to Portland. According to the complaint, the cockpit incident lasted approximately 90 seconds.
ABC 7 Report
Emerson exits cockpit, says, ‘You need to cuff me’
Attendants then saw Emerson walk peacefully toward the back of the plane, saying he’d been kicked out of the cockpit, the complaint alleges.
“You need to cuff me,” Emerson allegedly told the flight attendants, “or it’s going to be bad.”
‘Tried to kill everybody’
After moving to the back of the plane, flight attendants placed handcuffs on Emerson’s wrist, the federal complaint states.
During the flight’s descent, flight attendants told police that Emerson tried to reach for the plane’s emergency exit handle before they stopped him, the complaint alleges.
Upon making conversation with Emerson in order to distract him, flight attendants allegedly heard him say, “I messed everything up” and that he “tried to kill everybody.”
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Emerson tells police he thought episode was dream
Both the county affidavit and the federal complaint allege that Emerson told the responding officers that when he was in the cockpit, he thought he was dreaming, adding that he thought it seemed like the pilots weren’t paying attention to what was happening.
“I pulled both emergency shut off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up,” Emerson said, per the federal complaint.
Magic mushrooms
Through their interview with Emerson, officers learned that the off-duty pilot had taken psychedelic “magic mushrooms” approximately 48 hours before the flight, the affidavit states.
Emerson allegedly told police it was his first time taking them, according to the federal complaint, adding that six months prior to the incident, he had become depressed.
Emerson has been a pilot since 2001, authorities say.
Emerson told police, “I’m admitting to what I did. I’m not fighting any charges you want to bring against me, guys,” the documents claim.
In addition to 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and one felony count of endangering an aircraft filed in Multnomah County court, Emerson now faces a federal charge of endangering a flight crew, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said in a release.
According to the Multnomah County affidavit, 11 passengers on board the flight were under the age of 14.
Emerson will face the federal charge at a later date.
source: people.com
