Testimony Provides New Details About ‘Cracker Rage’ Incident

Courtroom accounts from the crew of a transatlantic United Airlines flight that was forced to divert to Ireland because of a passenger’s “unpredictable” behavior in June, help to explain how a tense situation escalated to an unscheduled landing.

Testimony in a Northern Ireland courtroom is filling in the gaps on how a passenger’s outrage over skimpy snack service resulted in a United Airlines flight from Fiumicino–Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO) to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) being diverted to Belfast International Airport (BFS). The incident, which took place in June, left 269 passengers spending the night sleeping on the airport floor and U.S. citizen Jeremiah Mathis Thede defending himself against serious charges that include “endangering an aircraft or persons in the aircraft.”

In courtroom testimony reported by the Daily Mail, the crew of that United Airlines flight recounted that Thede’s bizarre behavior went well beyond an unreasonable tirade about the amount of peanuts and crackers made available to passengers. Flight attendant Lisa Hall testified that Thede had changed clothes a number of times since the plane had departed Rome and had already been accused of staring at a female passenger and invading her personal space. Hall recounted that the 42-year-old disruptive passenger had been warned three times to change his behavior before it culminated in an angry outburst over snack refills.

“He became very angry and he told me he could have all the f***ing peanuts and crackers he wanted,” Hall told the courtroom. “I felt like my heart was pounding, that something wasn’t right with him. He started shouting at me before I could even finish my sentence. He seemed extremely angry and it was just not normal behavior.”

Pilot Joseph Oka testified that he was left no choice but to recommend that the captain divert to BFS before the plane started across the Atlantic. “There could potentially be a time bomb on board,” Oka said on the stand. “Do you want to deal with it on the ground or in the air, given that we were about to coast out?”

Thede’s lawyers contend that the crew overreacted and were in fact attempting to make an example of their client, noting that the supposedly dangerous and out-of-control flyer was asleep when police boarded the plane to take him into custody. Shortly after his arrest, Thede also denied any wrongdoing, telling police that “people were picking on him.”

[Photo: Jeremiah Mathis Thede leaves Antrim Crown Court, David Young/PA Wire]