This article is from page 14 of the 2012-08-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
CABIN crew aboard a United Airlines flight to Shannon on Saturday were forced to handcuff a drunk American passenger who engaged in “obnoxious” and “threatening” behaviour, a court has heard.
Stephen Herring (40) consumed alcohol and ambien, a form of sleeping, prior to boarding the flight from Newark to Shannon on August 18. He was arrested in Shannon after failing to obey the directions of crew.
Mr Herring, with an address at 1216 Hawthorn, Heuston, Texas, appeared at Ennis District Court on Monday, charged with three offences under the Air Transport and Navigation Act. He pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour with intent to cause a breach of the peace; being intoxicated to such an extent that he might endanger himself or others, and, without justification, causing serious annoyance having been requested by the crew to cease such behaviour.
Insp Kennedy explained that Mr Herring had become difficult and refused to comply with crew during the flight. The court heard that Mr Herring was restrained in handcuffs. “He was arrested in Shannon. He was clearly intoxicated,” Insp Kennedy said.
The court heard that Mr Herring co-operated with gardaí and expressed remorse for his actions.
Mr Herring has no previous convictions in the United States or in Ireland. Insp Kennedy said he had dealt with a number of cases where passengers had engaged in difficult behaviour on flights.
He said that in most cases, a passenger’s behaviour forced a flight to divert to Shannon, causing huge cost and disturbance to all involved.
Insp Kennedy said this case was different as the United Airlines flight was scheduled to land in Shannon.
He said “obnoxious and disagreeable” of the type Mr Herring had engaged in, can cause “huge anxiety” to passengers.
Insp Kennedy added, “This would not be on the more serious end of the scale of incidents like this.”
Solicitor Aoife Corrigan said her client had come to Ireland for a weeklong holiday. She said Mr Herring had obtained Ambien from his doctor, due to a fear of flying. Mr Herring consumed some alcohol on his flight from Texas to Newark prior to taking the sleeping tablets.
Ms Corrigan said, “He completely blacked out. He doesn’t remember anything until waking up on the plane with handcuffs on.”
Ms Corrigan said family and friend were shocked to learn of Mr Herring’s behaviour. She said she had received 15 character references on behalf of her Mr Herring.
She added, “This is totally out of character. He is very ashamed and very sorry for his behaviour.”
The court heard that Mr Herring could possibly be banned from traveling with United Airlines again. Judge John O’Neill said he could understand “the anxiety of passengers, never mind nervous passengers”. He described Mr Herring’s behaviour as “obnoxious”.
Judge O’Neill added, “I would not have enjoyed being a passenger on that plane observing his behaviour.”
He said that if Mr Herring paid € 500 to the children’s charity, the Clare Crusaders, then he would strike out all charges.