Teen arrested for alleged bomb threat on plane —…
A teenage boy’s trip ended with a one-way ticket to juvenile detention — after he allegedly made a bomb threat aboard a Spirit Airlines flight leaving Fort Lauderdale.
But his mother says it was all just a dumb joke.
The 16-year-old, who was headed back to Kansas City with mates Monday, was arrested at around 3:15 p.m. at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after allegedly blurting out, “I have a bomb in my pocket,” as the plane was making ready for takeoff.
Cue panic in the aisle.
A Florida getaway turned into a Spirit flight from hell — ending with a teen cuffed and carted to juvie over a bogus bomb threat. Olga – stock.adobe.com
A fellow passenger overheard the remark and reported him, triggering a full-blown security response and evacuating the plane.
The unidentified teen was hauled off Flight 1332 by Broward Sheriff’s deputies, per People, and later charged with legal mischief of $1,000 or more and making a false report of a bomb or explosive.
But his mom insists the offhand remark was never meant as a threat — just immature slang gone very, very flawed.
“He’s a good kid,” she informed the Miami Herald, including that he was just joking about his masculinity.
Spirit Airlines confirmed the midair mayhem in a assertion made to NBC Miami, saying, “The aircraft taxied to a remote location, and guests were safely unplaned.”
“The plane was inspected and cleared by law enforcement.”
That not-so-funny joke price Spirit an estimated $50,000 in delays and disruptions, according to testimony in juvenile court Tuesday.
A viral TikTok reportedly taken from inside the cabin exhibits the second the boy was escorted off the plane as confused passengers have been pressured onto the tarmac.
The plane — initially scheduled to take off at 2:37 p.m. — didn’t go away the ground until 7:44 p.m.
What was supposed to be a easy 2:37 p.m. takeoff turned into a 7:44 p.m. crawl to the skies. stockphoto-graf – stock.adobe.com
“I would just like to ask for grace in this matter,” the boy’s father, Phillip Schmidt, stated at the listening to via Zoom.
“I don’t believe he acted criminally. He was acting as an immature 16-year-old, in my opinion.”
The teen’s lawyer argued that the info don’t even clearly place the remark on the plane.
“There was one statement, ‘I have a bomb in my pocket,’” the attorney stated.
“But the problem is it doesn’t say where this was said. Was this on the plane? Was it in the airport? Was it on the way to the airport?”
None of it mattered to the choose — who ordered the teenager to bear a psychological analysis and stay in custody at a juvenile facility.
The Missouri native had reportedly been staying in South Florida with household mates before heading home — with what was supposed to be a easy flight and zero explosive punchlines.
No explosives have been discovered on the plane or on the teenager, and no one was injured — besides possibly Spirit’s schedule and the boy’s summer time plans.
As beforehand reported by The Post, a Michigan man allegedly phoned in a faux bomb threat final month after Spirit Airlines wouldn’t let him board his flight, forcing passengers to deplane and sparking an FBI response.
Charles Robinson, 23, reportedly missed his probability to board Flight 2145 out of Detroit, then blew up at customer support brokers when they informed him to rebook.
The choose didn’t flinch — slapping the teenager with a psych eval and a keep in juvenile custody after his stunt. Nadzeya – stock.adobe.com
In a wild act of revenge, Robinson referred to as in a bogus bomb threat around 6:45 a.m., even making up a would-be terrorist and giving authorities a full description, prosecutors stated.
Looks like Spirit’s summer time vacationers are getting more bang than they bargained for — no explosives, just explosive habits.
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