Flight Attendants' Nightmare

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Mar 17, 2003
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Police officer terrorized WestJet flight; Toronto constable convicted of sex assault, threats Court hears how flight attendant endured abuse
The Toronto Star
Fri 16 Apr 2004
Page: B7
Section: News
Byline: PAUL MORSE
Source: torstar news service

A drunk Toronto police constable who threatened to kill passengers and crew on a Hamilton-bound WestJet flight, sexually assaulted a female flight attendant and was dragged off the plane by police has been convicted.

Constable Amarjit Singh Grewal, 34, pleaded guilty yesterday in a Hamilton courtroom to making death threats, assault and sexual assault.

Grewal had also faced a charge of endangering an aircraft, which was withdrawn.

The ordeal began 39 minutes into a 31/2-hour flight from Edmonton to Hamilton on Aug. 27, 2002, when crew members noticed Grewal acting strangely toward a little girl and her father sitting across the aisle from him.

An intoxicated Grewal, a 14-year uniformed Toronto police officer with the central traffic bureau, kept shoving a $100 bill at the father, insisting he was trying to help them, according to an agreed statement of facts heard by Ontario Court Justice Robert Weseloh.

The attendant, who by court order cannot be identified, arranged to move the father and little girl to other seats after the man told her he was scared.

Grewal became very angry. He placed his right hand in the air like a gun, and shouted, "You have no idea what I can do to all of these people on the plane. I could f------ blow them away."

Grewal told the attendant he was a millionaire, could supply people with cocaine, and that he had just gone through a divorce.

"I try to be good, but I always end up being bad," he told her.

While other crew alerted the captain, the attendant talked him into moving to the last row.

She began to panic when Grewal pushed her into the window seat, pressed up against her and began to stroke her face while speaking in a foreign language.

"He grabbed my right arm, placed his hand behind my neck and head-butted me. He continued to do that throughout the flight," court heard.

Grewal touched her breast, "and put his hand down my pants, inside my underwear and grabbed my rear end."

He also grabbed another flight attendant around the back of her neck, pulled her face to his, and said, "I have control. Are you girls going to be bad to me?"

Meanwhile, the plane's captain radioed for help. The flight could not be diverted to Winnipeg because of thunderstorms so it continued to Hamilton.

Grewal told the attendant he owned yachts where guests had drugs, alcohol "and lots of sex."

When Grewal went to the bathroom, the captain asked the attendant to keep him distracted. He continued to grab her. "He said he would jump on top of me and have sex in the seat."

When the plane landed in Hamilton at 1 30 a.m., police hustled Grewal away. He was suspended without pay.

He will be sentenced June 24 in Hamilton.
 
I'm glad this guy was nailed; it would have been too bad if he had got off because he was a cop or was able to use the "you are all predjutised against me due to my ethnicity" excuse.
Maybe the airlines will start reporting/charging more of these dickleheads and the message will get out that unruly paxs will not be tolerated.

I would assume as the a/c was a 737 that both flight crew were too busy flying the a/c to a safe destination weather-wise to go back and help contain this creep. Where are the sky marshalls, taser-guns and ejection seats when you really need them <_<
 
I hope He does't invoke the "Svend emotionial distress" syndrome at the hearing.

:shock: :shock: :elvis: :elvis:
 
Unfortunately or not, depends on how you look at it, no member of the flight crew should go into the back to try and do anything to help the situation. The F/A's are trained to deal with these types of pax's, whether or not they are up to the task is another question. If not, they should look for support from the other pax's, in this day and age, I think you will get volunteer's pretty damn quickly after 9/11.

Many years ago at CRA, one of our Captains went into the back to help deal with an intox pax, for his efforts he ended up getting assaulted with a blow to the head, and he wasn't able to resolve the situation .

While unfortunate for the YYZ constable, it is good to see that he was dealt with the same way any other person would be. There is no place onboard an aircraft for an unruly, intoxicated passenger.

The only question I have, is if the situation was as serious as stated, and YWG wx was out, there was still YQT and YAM enroute that would have had more than adequate resources to deal with it. I guess they must have not been viable options either.

If it was my flight, I think I would have put down at the first suitable airport, not carry on to destination for convenience.

IMO
 
I find it hard to believe that more than 100 passengers would just sit back and allow this to happen.

What is wrong with our society?

This guy should have been carried off bloody and beaten at the end of the flight.

I haven't been in a good fight in over thirty years, but I would have gladly joined in.

:angry:
 
wridon,

agreed. i would have jumped in for sure.

it's too bad that "Joe Public"'s mentality is what it is.......afraid of being charged with assault or even being sued by the perp.....our lives are run by lawyers. i know of some instances where intervention from joe public led to him being charged and threatend to be sued by the perp.

i would hope that with all that has transpired in aviation since 9-11 that a judge would look at it differently.

my 0.02 cents.

R
 
I also remember the time the 'crazed' passenger was killed by overzealous passengers who sat on his chest until he ultimately passed out and died. And I don't remember exactly what he did to encourage that assault, but it goes to show you a bunch of yahoos have no place trying their hand at subdueing a person. Leave it to someone trained to do it.
 
All well and good to leave it to someone "trained", but it sounds like the trainned one was being raped.

Just because you jump in to help does not mean that all who would would be dumb enough to kill the perp, unless of course self defence dictated it.

:rolleyes:
 
The pax that suxccumbed to over zealous interveners was high on Methadone and threateneing to take over the a/c. Alls well that ends well in my book. This happened at Southwest Airlines.

From reading the trial reports he had previously bothered another pax's young daughter and was moved to the back of the bus to keep him out of the way of the rest of the pax.
Whatever the circimstances with a sexual assualt ( doesn't necessarly mean rape), threats to kill, and basic assault, this bozo will be the next guy you see when you go for your "finger-licking good" coffee and donut at Timmies as the Missy cops won't keep him around with a felony conviction.
I guess it's up to the judge to decide whether he spends a bunch of time behind bars or only gets the Canadian slap on the wrist.... :stupid:
 
About 8 years ago I helped the crew of a flight from London to Toronto subdue a pax who was drunk ( had been cut off ) and was walking around, smoking, and grabbing drinks off people's trays. He was being abusive to anyone who approached him.
I had been invited up to the cockpit for a visit during cruise and so when the problem happened the Capt. suggested to the incharge that he ask for my help.
To avoid any chance of a fight developing I approached him from behind while he was threatening the incharge, and put him on the ground with my arms under his armpits and hands clasped behind his head. A pull back to put him off his feet and then lowered him to the ground.
Once there he became most co-operative and we sat him in a window seat for the rest of the flight. I sat across the aisle from him just to keep an eye on him. He was quiet as a mouse for the rest of the flight.
Upon landing the RCMP came aboard and offered the Capt. 2 choices - they could charge him with public drunkeness and keep him overnight or they could charge him with "endangering the flight" which was serious and would require a trial, witnesses ect.
The crew had been given a number of addresses and phone numbers by angered and scared pax who lived in the Toronto area and were ready, willing and able to testify against this guy.
The Capt. elected to have him charged with endangering the flight in view of the circumstrances and the last seen of the moron he was handcuffed and being escorted by two large unfriendly Mounties.
I doubt he enjoyed the rest of his visit to Canada.
I am a pretty big guy and was able to get him controlled very easily.
I would not want to have had to challenge him and risk him attacking me but was lucky enough to have a chance to form a plan with the cabin crew so it all worked out.
Anyhoo that's my story.
 
Way to go Sharkbait. Sounds like that was the way to handle the situation. It stopped the problem in it's tracks. Confronting the person would have only given him another opportunity to create even more trouble for all.

:up:
 
This all goes back to Canada's first highjacking that happened in YYC in 1970 or 71. The pax said he had a bomb and they flew around in this DC 8 (can't remeber if it was AC or CPA) for about 4 hours and finally the purser cold-cocked the guy with the flat edge of the crash axe and they returned to YYC. I remeber the a/c sitting on the end of runway 07 after they landed and a horde of cops everywhere.

I always thought that he used the wrong edge of the axe as I would have preferred the Tower of London approach myself. IIRC the perp got somewhere around 20 years so he is undoubtedly out and about since that time.
Good job Shark - no crash axes handy?
 
nice work sharkbait :up: :up: ...

for those of you unfamiliar with a citizen's power of arrest, EVERYONE has the authority to effect an arrest (and in doing so... is justified in using as much force as is necessary in the circumstances) in any/all serious (indictable) offences... ie from securing custody of obviously impaired drivers to dealing with idiots such as those described above... endangering an aircraft during flight.

you are additionally protected from civil liability on the proviso your actions taken are deemed to be reasonable in the circumstances as well as acting upon the request of the PIC ... a "peace officer" (by criminal code definition) while in flight.

i'm not saying your name won't end up on a statement of claim (lawsuit)... i'm saying the airline's shysters will defend your actions SUCCESSFULLY.

please consider offering your assistance whenever you see the need... fly safe.
 
I did my time as an F/A in YZF before I got a right seat job..

The a/c I worked was generally single F/A. Never did have a problem (thankfully) other than people returning to Gjoa or Pelly after a night on the town in YZF trying to use a lav that was full to overflowing... :blink:

I'm not a very big person - if I ever had a problem I wouldn't have hesitated to call on a pax for help. I'm sure they would have been more than happy to assist.

I also find it hard to believe that this guy on the WJ flight wasn't met by any pax hostility, but maybe they just didn't report it in the article. <_<