An unruly passenger who made headlines a few days ago when he jumped out of a plane’s exit door as it was readying for takeoff at LAX has told authorities that he smoked “a lot” of crystal meth before making that unwise/extremely dangerous decision.
According to court documents obtained by The Washington Post, during a planned Friday evening flight 33-year-old Luis Antonio Victoria Dominguez whispered to a passenger next to him that he was planning to jump from a plane as it got ready to depart. The woman he whispered to remembers him saying “I’m serious.”
Dominguez is then alleged to have run to the front of the plane before banging on the door of the cockpit in an effort to get in. He was not able to do that, and then opened an emergency exit and jumped from the aircraft. As a result he broke his right leg.
It was reported that he was in Los Angeles since Tuesday and was planning on getting to Salt Lake City, though he didn’t have a connecting flight planned out. Instead he went to a downtown L.A. hotel. He allegedly told FBI investigators that he drank several beers and spent $20 on “a lot” of crystal meth. On Wednesday, while at a different Los Angeles hotel, he claims he smoked the meth “on and off.” He also decided he’d rather fly to Salt Lake City than take a bus.
On Thursday he says he continued smoking the meth, and that he missed a flight out of LAX on that day. He also missed an earlier flight Friday, then successfully boarded later on during what would be his third attempt. He says that as he took his seat he began coming down from “all the drugs he had used in the last couple of days.” He says he overheard passengers “laughing and talking” about going to a different destination instead of Salt Lake City. He claims that sent him into a panic which set off the chaotic series of events.
To get to the emergency exit he reportedly pushed a flight attendant. He was able to partially deploy the slide that takes one from the plane to the ground during emergencies. Another passenger reportedly tried to grab him as he tried to leap from the moving plane. He was able to free himself, the plane came to a stop, he jumped and fell on the tarmac and broke his leg. He was taken to a hospital after being apprehended.
For interfering with the flight crew he faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
