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Unticketed passenger removed from Delta flight in Salt Lake City, police say
The FBI is investigating after a man authorities say was an unticketed passenger was removed from a Delta Air Lines flight at Salt Lake City International Airport Sunday morning.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, officers arrested Wicliff Fleurizard, 26, of George, Texas, who was removed from Flight 1683, which was to head for Austin.
The complaint says he had a boarding pass when passing through security but not for the flight he boarded.
It says Fleurizard told police he was in Utah on snowboarding trip to Park City but had to get home to see family members who’d flown in from Florida. He said a friend gave him a free “buddy pass” for Southwest Airlines and that was the ticket he used to get through security, but the flight he intended to get on was full so he went to the Delta gate.
The complaint says he was seen on security camera video using his phone to take pictures of other people’s boarding passes without their knowledge and it appears he used one of those pictures to board the Delta plane, where he tried to stowaway in first the front and then the rear lavatory. But when he left that lavatory, there were no seats left and, as the plane was taxiing, flight attendants realized there was an issue and the plane returned to the gate.
According to the complaint, “Fleuizard admitted he had made a mistake and was only trying get home.”
Salt Lake City Police tell CBS News officers were called to a gate in the A Concourse by the airline around 10:30 a.m. local time following an “on-board incident involving Mr. Fleurizard while the aircraft was preparing to depart.”
In a statement, Delta says the airline “is cooperating with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies regarding an investigation into a non-ticketed individual being escorted off an aircraft in Salt Lake City prior to a scheduled departure. We defer any additional questions to law enforcement.”
The Transportation Security Administration says in a statement that the suspect “was screened without incident at the security checkpoint … using a photo ID that matched the name on the boarding pass.”
“The passenger had a boarding pass. We don’t confirm flight details of individual travelers,” a TSA spokesperson said.
But Delta tells CBS News he “did not have a ticket for DL1683, operating SLC-AUS on March 17.”
Police say the suspect is being held on a federal detainer at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail. Records indicate he remains behind bars.
Flight 1683 departed about half-hour late.
The FBI declined further comment.
Last month, a woman boarded an American Airlines Nashville-to-Los Angeles flight without a boarding pass. The TSA confirms the woman was able to sneak past the ID-boarding pass screening but did go through the magnetometers/bags check.
The woman was taken into FBI custody at LAX on Feb 7.
— additional reporting by Brian Dakss
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Long before comic book characters dominated movie screens, actor Christopher Reeve made the world believes in superheroes with the 1978 classic “Superman.”
Reeve died in 2004, nearly a decade after an accident re-shaped his life. “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is using interviews with family and friends and never-before-seen home videos to explore his real-life heroism.
Reeve started his career on the stage, studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and living with comedian Robin Williams. The pair had a friendship that was “more like a brotherhood,” said Reeve’s son Matthew. Reeve was in awe of Williams’ energy and versatility, Matthew Reeve said, but audiences quickly clued into Reeve’s own star power when he took on the role of the Man of Steel.
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To his children, though, he “was just dad,” Matthew Reeve said. The documentary explores how Matthew Reeve and his sister Alexandra Reeve Givens grew up watching their dad take the stage as Superman. “Super/Man” also reveals their heartbreak over their parents’ breakup and the joy they found when Reeve re-married. He tied the knot with Dana Reeve in 1992, and the pair welcomed another child, William Reeve, later that year.
“Dana was sunshine,” Alexandra Reeve Givens recalled. “She just brought joy with her wherever she was and could find it even in the darkest moments.”
Those dark moments came suddenly, when in 1995, a near-fatal horseback riding accident left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down. The documentary allows viewers to see, for the first time, what went on out of the public’s view. Reeve can be heard talking about how he “ruined (his) life and everybody else’s,” but in a touching moment, old friend Robin Williams is seen visiting him in the hospital.
“Robin showed him ‘Hey, you’re still you,'” Alexandra Reeve Givens said. “‘You still have this foundation of friendship and people around you, who adore you. And you’re going to find those fun moments in life again.'”
That support from friends and family re-ignited Reeve’s legacy of activism. He made appearances at the Democratic National Convention and the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, about a year after the accident. Matthew Reeve said watching his father address his industry peers at the Oscars was “one of (his) most proud moments.”
“It was just a production for him to get out of bed every morning, let alone get across the country and go out in public for the first time,” Matthew Reeve said. “It was a big deal. It was a big deal to him, but it was also a big deal to the entire disability community. We stayed up in London till like three in the morning to watch that live. It’s a fond memory.”
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Reeve also went on to launch what would become the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing research into spiral cord injury and help individuals and families impacted by paralysis. It was his dad’s mission to find a cure, Matthew Reeve said, while his stepmother wanted to focus on improving the lives of paralyzed people and their families. The foundation and Reeve’s platform helped bring unprecedented attention and funding to spinal cord injury research.
Reeve even kept acting and realized his lifelong dream of directing with the 1997 HBO movie “In the Gloaming.” Reeve died in 2004 from heart failure at 52.
“There is a huge amount of great actors and actresses out there, where their filmography might be amazing and what they achieve on a cultural level might be amazing, but have they actually achieved anything really as a human that moves the needle for our society?” said filmmaker Ian Bonhote, who made the documentary with Peter Ettedgui. “And Chris has done both things.”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will open in theaters on Friday, Oct. 11.
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