Jun 20, 2008 11:25 am US/Eastern
FBI: Flight Diverted After NYC Woman Lights Up
Passenger Accused Of Punching Attendant In Face, Screaming Racial Epithets
DENVER (CBS) ―
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Christina Szele, seen here after being arrested in 2007 on disorderly conduct charges in California, is scheduled to have a hearing in Denver on Monday.
CBS
An unruly JetBlue passenger from Queens who lit up a cigarette mid-flight Tuesday forced the 145-passenger flight to be diverted after she became violent and uncooperative when asked to stop smoking, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York.
Christina Szele, 35, was arrested and charged with assault and interfering with a flight crew, and remains locked up in Denver until a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.
Szele's brother told WCBS-TV she is going through a tough time right now, having recently seen the end of a 10-year relationship.
"She does drink a lot," Ladi Szele said. "I think part of it is the breakup, and that's what she told me. She could use help.
"She was going to fly out a week ago, but she missed her flight," he said. "They were going to put her on another flight, and they wouldn't let her board because they said she was too intoxicated."
According to an FBI affidavit, Szele boarded JetBlue Flight 643 from New York to San Francisco after having consumed two beers at home. She told investigators that once onboard the plane, she then consumed three drinks containing vodka.
"If she tells me three, she might have had five," Ladi Szele said. "But the police report says one, so I believe the airline is covering up."
Sometime after the third drink, flight attendants told authorities that Szele began smoking in her seat. One of the attendants, identified as Paul Whyte, approached Szele and took the cigarette out of her mouth, telling her she was endangering the other passengers.
Whyte, who is black, claimed that Szele began kicking and screaming and when he tried to restrain her with flex cuffs. After she had already broken through one pair, she punched in him in the face with a closed fist and called him obscene insults and racial epithets.
Whyte said that Szele also told him "I'm going to get you" and threatened to kill him.
"She told me she kicked the flight attendant in the shin when he tried to come into the bathroom," Ladi Szele said.
Eventually, the captain decided to divert the flight to Denver, where Szele was apprehended by federal agents.
Inside a holding cell in Denver, Szele said she didn't remember smoking on the flight or hitting the flight attendant, and that if she did, she was likely drunk. She told authorities she wasn't a violent person.
The affidavit says Szele told investigators she thought she was being abused by the crew when they tried putting her in flex cuffs.
If convicted on all charges, Szele faces 20 years in prison and more than $250,000 in fines.
This isn't the first time Szele has been in trouble with the law. In 2007, she was arrested in Santa Barbara, Calif., on disorderly conduct charges.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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