Buck-naked man on US Air flight forces detour

At least he wasn't masturbating

Remember the story about Elvis Crespo:

The Grammy winner was masturbating in view of other passengers Thursday, prompting the plane's captain to radio the Miami International Airport's air traffic control tower, the police report said.

Officers interviewed Crespo upon his arrival but did not arrest him. No charges have been filed.

When asked by police at the airport about the accusation, the 37-year-old Puerto Rican singer said: "I don't recall doing that."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 21:03:47 PM CDT

Was he listening...

...to a Nelly song from 2002?

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by: zenith83 @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 21:19:40 PM CDT

at least you knew he wasn't concealing any explosives

Don't tell Homeroom Security about this, or they'll make us all fly au naturel.

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by: coram nobis @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 22:41:33 PM CDT

I hope

someone cleaned the seat afterward...

O_o

Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" is so 2006.

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by: Denabeth @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 23:57:43 PM CDT

Men!

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by: Pollyanna @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 00:35:15 AM CDT

What about us?

Fetch my pearls, I need to clutch them!

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by: RainbowPhoenix @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 01:27:44 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bet he just BREEZED through the metal detector.

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by: Jim @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 00:55:37 AM CDT

They detoured the plane for this?!?

Okay, so he broke the law.  Why detour the plane rather than, say, arrest him in L.A. upon arrival?  What about nudity is such an extreme threat to the safety of the other passengers that it necessitated an emergency landing?  Or did I miss the part where he produced a howitzer from his navel and threatened the steward with it?

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by: pgraydon @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 05:36:21 AM CDT

Ah, apparently he was also violent...

The linked blog post quotes the L.A. times as reporting that he “punched and kicked the flight attendant.”  Getting him off the plane pronto is starting to look a little more reasonable.

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by: pgraydon @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 05:41:11 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

seemed like he kicked the flight attendant

after the flight attendant tried to cover his nudity. So, seems to me like it was still unnecessary to reroute the plane. What a waste of fuel.

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by: avocado @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 06:46:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

it's not as simple as "people [Americans] are uptight" ...

No doubt other passengers who were survivors of rape and other sexual violence were grateful the airline didn't allow this dude to sit out the whole flight.  (That's 25% of women and 10% of men or 17.5% overall.  Though many believe the 10% for men is under-reporting, and the percentage is actually much closer or identical to the figure for women.)  If I'd been on that plane and everyone was pretending this was safe, normal behavior, I'd be having PTSD symptoms.  The airline would get to buy me my first house with the money I'd win from the lawsuit.  And parents with kids were probably glad that the airline took this seriously, since they didn't sign up for their children to be exposed to an exhibitionist.

When an individual flouts a harmless social convention like wearing clothes in public, that's a red flag that other safe/social behaviors could easily be absent (as evidenced by his attacking the attendant who tried to cover him up, a disproportionate and injurious response to a non-injurious action).

Nudity is the bomb.  Sleeping nude, nudist camps, nude beaches, the World Naked Bike Ride, even nude plane flights.  Despite my history, I've actually been able to enjoy a couple of nude beaches myself.  The difference is that the social convention is redefined at these times and places and people know about it in advance and can choose whether to participate, or to be present, or not.  

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by: 555catnap @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 07:46:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

stats correction

33% of women are victims of sexual assault/rape either as children or adults or both.
25% of women are victims of sexual assault/rape as children.
10% of men are victims of sexual assault/rape as children.  (And this number is disputed as low, etc., etc.)
I don't know stats about sexual assault/rape of adult males (usually in prison)
Disclaimer:  These numbers have been commonly used and quoted in the media, but I have not gone source-hunting.

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by: 555catnap @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 08:49:42 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

If I get your argument, then I don't buy it

What is the connection between his nudity and rape? How do you get from the fact of his nudity to your claim that “no doubt other passengers who were survivors of rape and other sexual violence were grateful the airline didn't allow this dude to sit out the whole flight”?

I think that the paragraph beginning “when an individual…” is meant to hint at the missing warrant, but I just don’t buy it. If I walked on to that plane with a green Mohawk, lots of body piercings, and some skull tattoos, my appearance could be said to “flout [a] harmless social convension” but that would in no way justify anyone treating me as a threat requiring removal from the plane.

I agree that punching and kicking the flight attendant is a threatening act. I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that it justifies an unscheduled landing; there is a big difference between ineffectual batting from a seated (and seat-belted) person and blows from a trained and unencumbered fighter, and media hype has a way of exaggerating threats. I wasn’t there, however, and so I will defer to the threat assessment of the people who made that decision.

But the nudity itself? Is it worth all of the hoopla to overpower a passenger because others “didn’t sign up for their children to be exposed to an exhibitionist”? I’m going to need more evidence that the nature of his exhibition posed a serious risk of psychological harm to anyone present before I agree with that. Merely being able to see a penis does not, in my book, constitute a harm. Roughly half of humanity has one, after all.

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by: pgraydon @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 10:52:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Looks like they had their hands full on that flight.

The flight crew was simultaneously dealing with an unrelated medical emergency on board when authorities ordered the plane that had originated in Charlotte, N.C., to land in Albuquerque, said [FBI spokesman] Jones. http://latimesblogs.latimes.co...

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by: Pollyanna @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 13:36:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Super!

I'm going to need more evidence that the nature of his exhibition posed a serious risk of psychological harm to anyone present before I agree with that.

That's great news!  I'm always glad when someone is willing to take responsibility for learning about survivor issues.  You can google, you can go to the library, you can even make inquiries with mental health agencies and children's services agencies, and also teaching universities with medical or public health programs.  And if in your travels you get to talk to a survivor, if he or she feels safe enough with you to talk about the after-effects of the profound violation they've experienced, I'd suggest giving him/her the benefit of any doubt, since these folks will be speaking from raw and painful personal experience.  All too often there is persistent and debilitating trauma that can last months, years, decades.

A caution when you are doing your research ... there are some nay-sayers out there who "pooh-pooh" our experience.  They'll take things out of context, make fallacious comparisons, cherry pick what they hear and ignore the rest in order to shoot it down, etc.  You know the drill.  

I think this might just be that first reflexive reaction of denial when learning about some extreme, horrible, intentional pain or injustice perpetrated by humans.  Slavery?  No ... taking human beings into bondage?  Working them like cattle and torturing them and worse?  Why, that would be so despicably inhuman ... or ... Genocide?  No ... systematic murder and evil on such a scale; can it really be?  I think this actually speaks to a great but tender and maybe just uninformed humanity that's still evolving and trying to understand and incorporate the vastness of human depravity.  But it's really hard to say.  Best of luck in your research.

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by: 555catnap @ Sat Jul 04, 2009 at 00:38:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

There are a lot of

hangups about nudity.  I don't find nudity offensive, as long as it's not done in a sexual manner.  Nudity does not always equal sex.  Never has, never will.  Were we not born in the nude?  And I know I'm not always feeling sessy when I'm in the shower...

That being said, an airplane isn't the best place to be nude.  Really, why is it even necessary?  If the guy couldn't be reasoned with and fought (or hit) the flight attendant it becomes another story.  Even if someone is caught smoking on the plane, they don't divert and land early.  Unless the person gets violent.  

The main reason?  Lawsuits!  They want to land ASAP and let the police intervene.  It can become lawless in an airplane, and with hundreds on board.. they can't let things get out of hand.  Wasteful to divert?  Yes.  Necessary to divert?  Sometimes.

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by: flyerfier @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 11:59:13 AM CDT

Too bad it wasn't Air New Zealand

My America includes LGBT families.

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by: Mena @ Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 14:41:53 PM CDT