A drunken man held a woman hostage with a razor blade on a flight from New York to Salt Lake City, Utah.
The man, 41-year-old Merrill Darrell Fackrell from Syracuse, Utah, boarded a JetBlue flight on Monday from JFK to Salt Lake City.
According to reports, Fackrell turned to the woman sitting next to him, told her to take off her headphones and put a razor blade to her throat.
The woman eventually escaped the man’s grip and a good Samaritan stepped in.
Fackrell was hit with federal charges.
Fox 13 reported:
A Utah man is facing federal charges for allegedly carrying and using a straight-edge razor blade on a flight headed to Salt Lake City from New York.
The man, identified as 41-year-old Merrill Darrell Fackrell, from Syracuse, was arrested and charged with Carrying a Weapon on an Aircraft and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in the Special Aircraft Jurisdiction of the United States.
Court documents report he had “several alcoholic beverages” prior to the incident.
At some point during the flight, Fackrell turned to the woman next to him and told her to pause her movie, documents state.
When the woman took off her headphones, she realized Fackrell had his hand clutched “with what appeared to her as a knife,” court documents report, just inches from her throat.
“Fackrell then stood up and started yelling ‘She’s going to be ok,’ and ‘no one needs to worry,’” documents state. He also shouted expletives at her husband.
The husband of the woman went to get help from a flight attendant and the woman lunged into the aisle to escape Fackrell, officials report. He tried to stop her by grabbing her shoulder but she was able to break free and escape to the front of the plane.
Later, the object was secured and identified as a Facon wood-handled straight-edge razor with a one-to-two-inch blade, officials said.
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