๐…๐‘๐„๐„ ๐‹๐„๐†๐€๐‹ ๐€๐ƒ๐•๐ˆ๐‚๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐’๐Ž๐‚๐ˆ๐€๐‹ ๐Œ๐„๐ƒ๐ˆ๐€ ๐Œ๐Ž๐‘๐Ž๐๐’ ๐–๐‡๐Ž ๐๐‹๐€๐ ๐“๐Ž ๐‚๐€๐”๐’๐„ ๐€ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐’๐“๐”๐‘๐๐€๐๐‚๐„ ๐Ž๐ ๐€๐ ๐„๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐ˆ๐€๐ ๐€๐ˆ๐‘๐‹๐ˆ๐๐„๐‘

First posted on X (Twitter) on August 24, 2024
https://x.com/AlMariam1/status/1827201607387267298

๐…๐‘๐„๐„ ๐‹๐„๐†๐€๐‹ ๐€๐ƒ๐•๐ˆ๐‚๐„ ๐๐€๐‘๐“๐ˆ๐‚๐”๐‹๐€๐‘๐‹๐˜ ๐“๐Ž ๐’๐Ž๐‚๐ˆ๐€๐‹ ๐Œ๐„๐ƒ๐ˆ๐€ ๐Œ๐Ž๐‘๐Ž๐๐’ ๐–๐‡๐Ž ๐๐‹๐€๐ ๐Ž๐‘ ๐„๐•๐„๐ ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐Š ๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐‚๐€๐”๐’๐ˆ๐๐† ๐€ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐’๐“๐”๐‘๐๐€๐๐‚๐„ ๐Ž๐ ๐€๐ ๐„๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐ˆ๐€๐ ๐€๐ˆ๐‘๐‹๐ˆ๐๐„๐’ ๐€๐ˆ๐‘๐‚๐‘๐€๐…๐“ ๐ˆ๐ ๐Ž๐‘ ๐Ž๐‘๐ˆ๐†๐ˆ๐๐€๐“๐ˆ๐๐† ๐…๐‘๐Ž๐Œ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐”๐๐ˆ๐“๐„๐ƒ ๐’๐“๐€๐“๐„๐’

The moron depicted in this tweet passes himself as TikToker John Daniel. On August 22, 2024, this moron caused a major disturbance on an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft which had to perform emergency preparations due to dense fog at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.

I am not sure where the flight originated but if it had originated from the United States, he would be facing 20 years in federal prison! (Indeed, if the flight had originated in the US, he could be tried and convicted both in Ethiopia and the United States and serve successive long prison terms.)

Causing a disturbance on an airplane, intimidating or assaulting a flight crew or flight attendant in a way that interferes with the performance of their normal duties, or even conspiring to do such acts in a โ€œspecial aircraft jurisdiction of the United Statesโ€ is punishable by 20 years in prison.

Title 49 U.S.C.A. ยง 46504 provides: An individual on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States who, by assaulting or intimidating a flight crewmember or flight attendant of the aircraft, interferes with the performance of the duties of the member or attendant or lessens the ability of the member or attendant to perform those duties, or attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be guilty of the federal crime of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.

This offense is classified as a โ€œgeneral intentโ€ crime, which means that the person committing the crime does not have to intend to interfere with the performance of the crewmember or attendant. All that is required is proof the accused caused the disturbance in a voluntary and intentional manner.

The term โ€œspecial jurisdictionโ€ in the law refers to the fact that the crime occurred on any civil, private or armed-forces aircraft, or any other aircraft in flight, inside or outside the United States, that will next land in, or last departed from, the United States, and that lands in the United States with the offender still on board. An aircraft is considered to be โ€œin flightโ€ โ€œfrom the moment all external doors are closed following boardingโ€ to โ€œthe moment when one external door is opened to allow passengers to leave the aircraft.โ€

To prove โ€œintimidation,โ€ it is not required that the flight crew member or attendant feared for their own physical safety. It is sufficient that the conduct and words of the accused would place an ordinary, reasonable person in fear, even if the accused did not intend to threaten the victim. The accused can intimidate without making a direct or even veiled threat. For instance, using vulgar words and insults against crew members in refusing to comply with crew requests or instructions to turn off electronic devices (given to prevent interference with aircraft navigation system) are sufficient to prove intimidation.

Moreover, the disturbance caused need not affect the physical safety of the aircraft. Interference with the normal, routine related to the general well-being and comfort of passengers is sufficient. If a dangerous weapon is used in assaulting or intimidating the victim, the penalty shall be โ€œimprisonment for any term of years or for life.โ€ That means pouring hot coffee on a flight attendant qualifies as โ€œusing a dangerous weaponโ€ in the in the commission of this crime. ๐“

๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ๐ฌ๐จ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ข๐œ ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ญ๐จ๐ค๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐š ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง ๐„๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐š. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐จ. A word to the wise is enough.

๐€ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐–๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ž๐๐ข๐š ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ: ๐ƒ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐›๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ง ๐„๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐š๐ข๐ซ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ข๐ซ๐œ๐ซ๐š๐Ÿ๐ญ! ๐๐„๐‘๐ˆ๐Ž๐ƒ!!!

About

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino. His teaching areas include American constitutional law, civil rights law, judicial process, American and California state governments, and African politics. He has published two volumes on American constitutional law, including American Constitutional Law: Structures and Process (1994) and American Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (1998). He is the Senior Editor of the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, a leading scholarly journal on Ethiopia. For the last several years, Prof. Mariam has written weekly web commentaries on Ethiopian human rights and African issues that are widely read online. He played a central advocacy role in the passage of H.R. 2003 (Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007) in the House of Representatives in 2007. Prof. Mariam practices in the areas of criminal defense and civil litigation. In 1998, he argued a major case in the California Supreme Court involving the right against self-incrimination in People v. Peevy, 17 Cal. 4th 1184, which helped clarify longstanding Miranda rights issues in criminal procedure in California. For several years, Prof. Mariam had a weekly public channel public affairs television show in Southern California called โ€œIn the Public Interestโ€. Prof. Mariam received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1984, and his J.D. from the University of Maryland in 1988.