Man Tries to Open Emergency Exit Door on Alaska Airlines Flight - East Idaho News
National

Man Tries to Open Emergency Exit Door on Alaska Airlines Flight

  Published at

78036034?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1369676457303Comstock(PORTLAND, Ore.) — An Arizona man is under arrest in Portland, Ore., after allegedly trying to open an emergency exit door onboard an Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Portland Monday morning.

The plane, Alaska Airlines flight 132, was about 10 minutes away from landing in Portland when the suspect, 23-year-old Alexander Michael Herrera, tried to open the emergency row door, according to the airline.

The emergency door is equipped with a lock preventing anyone from opening it during the flight, but it still caused a scare.

“I awoke to a loud hissing noise and then lots of screaming,” recounted Ryan Oelrich, a passenger on flight 132. “My first thought was that the plane must be going down.”

Luckily, flight crew and nearby passengers were able to wrestle Herrera away from the door.

“They jumped on him, they took him down, they held him down until the flight attendants could get there with restraints and those passengers continued to help them restrain this individual who was just uh, you know, wanting to get out mid-flight,” Oelrich said.

Passengers and crew members who were interviewed by Port of Portland Police officers said Herrera made unusual statements before he tried to open the door. However federal officials declined to elaborate on what Herrera allegedly said.

According to a statement from the airline, Herrera sat calmly in his seat for the rest of the flight once he was restrained. He was arrested when the plane landed at 5:23 a.m.

There were 137 people onboard the plane.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION