(New York) An Irishman who refused to wear his mask on a Dublin-New York flight has been charged with “assault” and “intimidation” for “showing his buttocks” in public, a “crime” for which he faces up to 20 years in prison, US justice announced on Friday.
Posted at 8:45 p.m.
Shane McInerney, 29, from Galway, Ireland, appeared on January 14 in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, where he was charged with “willfully assaulting and intimidating a member of the cabin crew of Delta Airlines Flight 45 from Dublin. at JFK airport” in New York on January 7, according to a court document.
Federal justice accuses him of having “repeatedly refused to wear a mask”, of having “thrown a can of drink which hit the head of a passenger”, of having “lowered his pants and his pennies -clothes and showing his buttocks to a member of the crew and the passengers” and finally for having “removed his cap to put it on the captain’s head”.
The prosecution is “a felony and, if convicted, the defendant could face up to 20 years in prison,” a Brooklyn court spokesperson said.
The Irish national, who was traveling to Florida for a job as a football trainer, was released on $20,000 bail pending trial.
The American regulator of civil aviation (FAA) had decreed in January 2021 a policy of zero tolerance towards passengers who would refuse to wear the mask, while the flight personnel of the companies faced a very large number of reported cases of violence. verbally or physically from persons refusing to comply with this obligation.
On Thursday, an American Airlines plane that linked Miami to London turned around halfway, one of the passengers refusing to wear her mask.