Saturday, January 08, 2011

Professor arrested for having suspicious bagel on a plane

A Florida professor was arrested and removed from a plane on Monday after his fellow passengers alerted crew members they thought he had a suspicious package in the overhead compartment. That "suspicious package" turned out to be keys, a bagel with cream cheese and a hat.

Ognjen Milatovic, 35, was flying from Boston to Washington D.C. on US Airways when he was escorted off the plane for disorderly conduct following the incident. Monday's incident is another example of other passengers essentially becoming the authority on terrorist activity on planes.



Milatovic, who is a mathematics and statistics professor at the University of North Florida, was minding his business when other passengers turned into super sleuths. Passengers reported hearing strange noises coming from a plastic bag. State police said later that the bag contained a set of keys, a bagel with cream cheese, some other small food items, a hat and a wallet.

When confronted by the US Airways crew about his "suspicious package," Milatovic got on his cell phone. The crew asked him to hang it up and sit down. When he refused, he was cuffed. Milatovic was also charged with interfering with the operation of an aircraft.

2 comments:

L said...

Cream cheese as a weapon!

Unfortunately, it only works if your victims are lactose intolerant.

WordyGrrl said...

I wonder if "he talked funny" was one of their main reasons for suspicion.