KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A California man was sentenced Monday to two years for causing a disturbance in 2022 that led an American Airlines flight to divert to the Kansas City International Airport.
Juan Remberto Rivas Jr., 53, was convicted in March by a Platte County jury of assaulting a law enforcement officer and attempting to escape custody.
The disturbance happened Feb. 13, 2022, on a plane that departed Los Angeles and was bound for Washington, D.C. About 150 passengers were on board.
Court documents stated Rivas approached the cockpit with plastic silverware in his shirt “like a shank” while attempting to break a champagne bottle he was holding by the neck.
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He then kicked and shoved a service cart into a flight attendant before he grabbed the handle of the starboard aircraft exit door and yelled, “I’m going to f—ing kill you all,” according to a press release from Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd.
Rivas was detained on the plane after a flight attendant hit him in the head with a coffee pot. Passengers helped use zip ties and duct tape to secure his hands and feet, too, the Department of Justice reported.
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Once the plane made an emergency landing at KCI, federal and state law officers took Rivas into custody.
During Rivas’ March trial, it was revealed he broke free of his handcuffs and assaulted a KCI airport officer while being escorted to the Platte County Detention Center.
Zahnd said Rivas also tried to grab the officer’s weapon while saying he was going to escape.
Rivas received two years for second-degree assault on a law officer and one year for attempting to escape from custody. The sentences will run concurrently.
He faces additional charges in the United States District Court for interfering with the flight crew as well as his actions on board. For that, he received a 19-month federal sentence.
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“This defendant had already pleaded guilty to what he did in the air during this flight," Zahnd said. "Nevertheless, in Platte County, we will hold anyone who assaults a police officer accountable. Mr. Rivas will now serve time in Missouri prison after he completes his federal sentence."
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