A 75-year-old man on a flight from Chicago to Long Island was arrested after telling a flight attendant there was a bomb in his carry-on luggage. When the plane landed at MacArthur Airport, a flight attendant asked Draco Slaughter about a bag on an empty seat near him. Slaughter said the bag was his and "there was a bomb in it." However, a police investigation found no explosive devices in Slaughter's luggage, and he was arrested for first-degree falsely reporting an incident.
At his arraignment hearing today in Central Islip, his lawyer told the judge he was innocent. But according to Newsday (subscription required), Slaughter had already told the judge he didn't have a lawyer "before his attorney advised him to remain quiet." The attorney, from Legal Aid, said that Slaughter was innocent of the charges.
Slaughter is being held on $50,000 cash bail or bond, and is due back in court on Friday. Just another reminder that you can't say "bomb" on an airplane.
