Landon Grier Canon City Colorado man refuses to wear face mask on Alaska Airlines flight, urinates in cabin. Latest episode challenging mask mandate.
Here we go again. A Colorado man faces federal faces charges after ‘disrupting’ an Alaska Airlines flight upon refusing to wear a face mask and then standing up and urinating in the cabin.
The FBI arrested Landon Perry Grier, 24, of Canon City after the Seattle to Denver flight landed March 9, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver.
The affidavit by FBI Special Agent Martin Daniell III, who interviewed Grier and crew members, says Grier appeared to be trying to sleep but swatted at an attendant when she asked him repeatedly to put on his mask, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A passenger later summoned attendants because Grier was urinating in his seat area, Daniell wrote according to 9news.
The agent said Grier told him he had several beers and ‘a couple of shots’ before boarding the flight, fell asleep on the plane and ‘awoke to being yelled at by the flight attendants who told him he was peeing.’
‘He stated he had no recollection of hitting the flight attendant and didn’t know if he was peeing,’ Daniell said.
Grier who has since been charged with interfering with a flight crew and flight attendants made an initial court appearance on Thursday.
A federal public defender was appointed to represent him. He was released on $10,000 bond pending his next court appearance set for March 26, AP reported.
The charges against him carry a maximum 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine.
In a statement, Alaska Airlines said: ‘We will not tolerate any disturbance onboard our aircraft or at any of the airports we serve.’
The incident is the recent episode of members of the public recoiling and challenging the need to wear face masks amid the ongoing pandemic, often citing their rights and freedoms, to the potential detriment of the wider collective.
Previous episodes of challenging mask mandates have included spitting, macing, murder, hysteria, racism along with biting.