A passenger woke up from a nap, raised his fist and punched out the interior pane of an airplane window on a flight from Las Vegas to Florida, authorities said.
Ryan J. Marchione, 24, shattered the inner plastic shield covering the glass window and disconnected its frame about 90 minutes into the America West flight, according to an FBI affidavit.
The outer window was not damaged and the plane did not depressurize, the airline said.
***
Marchione "woke abruptly from his sleep and turned to the passenger seated in 7B" about 90 minutes into the flight, an FBI affidavit said. He then "raised a clenched fist to his shoulder as if he was going to strike the passenger in 7B, then suddenly turned and struck the exterior window," the affidavit said.
"It appears to have come out of nowhere," said Marchione’s attorney, Thomas Ostrander. "Perhaps it was some sort of a psychotic episode as a result of drug abuse."
A third-grade teacher accused of performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy, allowing students to peek down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass in front of her students pleaded not guilty to the 24 criminal charges she faces.
Georgianne Harrell, 24, was indicted last month on two counts of aggravated child molestation, 21 counts of child molestation and one count of reckless conduct stemming from incidents alleged to have taken place in her classroom at Sylvester’s Holley Elementary School between August 2004 and May.
She was to have been arraigned Tuesday, but her attorney filed documents waiving her right to an arraignment. He also entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf.
Harrell was arrested May 17, after cutting her wrists with broken glass in her classroom, officials say.
Eleven of the 24 charges against her involve a boy who was 9 at the time of the alleged attacks.