Vos Iz Neias6 hours agoLAS VEGAS (AP) — A passenger arrested for texting that he was going to “hijack” the plane he was on told officers the message was banter with a co-worker and denied intending to harm anyone, according to a police report.
The United plane headed to Newark, New Jersey, was diverted back to Las Vegas shortly after takeoff Saturday night after a flight attendant spotted the text, and Dante Milne, 25, was taken into custody.
Milne was charged with making a threat or offering false information in reference to an act of terrorism. His attorney, James Gallo, told The Associated Press that he was still evaluating his client’s case but Milne plans to plead not guilty.
The flight attendant told Las Vegas police she had first noticed two passengers exchanging text messages during boarding that included derogatory remarks about other passengers and attendants. She later saw an incoming message that began with “I’m gonna hijack,” and she notified the lead flight attendant, according to the police report. The sender was later identified as Milne, the report said.
Police said the full message read: “I’m gonna hijack this” plane — although he used an expletive instead of plane — “and crash ur row only.”
Once the aircraft passed 10,000 feet (3,050 meters), the captain was notified, the report said, noting that was “consistent with sterile flight deck procedures.”
The pilot can be heard telling an air traffic controller that a flight attendant reported the text message, so they proceeded to return to Las Vegas, according to a recording posted on the ATC app.
Milne, a resident of Woodridge, New Jersey, told officers he was in Las Vegas for a three-day apprenticeship training program associated with his work as an underwater welder, according to the arrest report.
He said he consumed beer and shots at an airport bar and intended to sleep during the flight, the report said. He said he was asleep on the flight when he woke up and learned the flight was returning back to Las Vegas, the report said.
Milne acknowledged exchanging texts with the other passenger, who he’d met at the training program, but initially said he couldn’t recall the content, the police report said.
“When questioned about the reported hijacking message, Milne characterized the wording as poorly stated and suggested the conversation involved banter between coworkers,” the report said. “Milne denied intending to hijack the aircraft, crash it, or harm anyone.”
A number of passengers have been arrested over the years for joking about having a bomb like a man did while checking his bag in Chicago in 2022. A few years earlier, a Turkish Airlines flight was diverted after someone renamed their Wi-Fi hot spot “bomb on board” in 2017, and just last summer an Allegiant Air flight made an emergency landing after a 27-year-old man told another passenger his laptop was a bomb.
Making that kind of joke can be a felony in most jurisdictions, but the airline industry has long been so sensitive about the subject of bombs or hijackers that it has been the subject of jokes in sitcoms and movies. The industry is likely on high alert right now less than a month after authorities said the co-pilot on a FlyDubai flight attacked the captain with an axe and tried to crash the plane before passengers intervened.
Status Island5 hours ago
Yeshiva World News7 hours agoFormer Vice President Kamala Harris is warning Democrats against launching a third impeachment effort against President Donald Trump if the party wins control of the House of Representatives in next week’s midterm elections, arguing that such a move would waste valuable political resources and almost certainly fail in the Senate.
In an interview Tuesday with Aaron Parnas of MeidasTouch, Harris urged Democrats to focus instead on investigations and holding administration officials accountable.
“I think that going in the direction of impeachment is not a good idea, just to be honest with you, just because we have limited resources,” Harris said.
“I think the energy and the resources need to be put into accountability, need to be put into investigations,” she added. “And that’s where the time should be spent.”
Harris, who served in the Senate during Trump’s first impeachment trial, pointed to the political reality that even if Democrats regain control of the House, they would be unlikely to secure the two-thirds majority required in the Senate to convict and remove the president.
“Remember, I was in the Senate for the last go-round, and the votes aren’t there,” she said.
The former vice president also called on Democrats to adopt a more aggressive political approach following the elections.
She said the party should be focused on accomplishing its objectives and described the approach she favors as “ruthless,” while distinguishing it from what she called Republican cruelty.
“They’re ruthless, but they’re cruel. And when I say we should be ruthless, I don’t mean cruel, but we should be uncompromising,” Harris said.
Her comments come as Democratic leaders weigh their options should they regain control of Congress.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has declined to rule out impeachment proceedings against Trump, saying Democrats have not ruled anything in or out.
However, Jeffries has also suggested that other senior administration officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, could face congressional scrutiny.
Trump was impeached twice during his first term in office and was acquitted by the Senate on both occasions.
His first impeachment involved allegations that he improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden. His second followed the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Harris voted to convict Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial. She was serving as vice president when the Senate held its second trial.
Under the Constitution, impeachment requires only a simple majority in the House, but conviction and removal from office require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, making a successful effort highly unlikely without substantial Republican support.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed a similar position last week, arguing that another impeachment of Trump would accomplish little because the Senate would not convict him.
Clinton said she opposed impeaching Trump but supported investigations into other administration officials, specifically naming Hegseth.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
