A man from New York admitted guilt on Tuesday after he made threatening remarks while intoxicated, causing a JetBlue flight to change its course last year, authorities stated.

On May 13, 2023, James Tyqwon Ford, aged 31, was traveling on JetBlue flight 2404. The flight was departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its way to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, as detailed in a report filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond.

JetBlue has not made any comments to YSL News regarding the incident.

Prior to the first round of beverage service, flight crew members noticed “the smell of alcohol” and reminded passengers that they are not allowed to consume personal alcohol onboard, according to the reports.

During this period, Ford began to behave disruptively, using vulgar language towards two flight attendants. When one attendant informed him that he could not consume his own alcohol and that authorities would be contacted upon landing, he replied with inappropriate comments, claiming that “the police would have to catch him first.”

Later, Ford approached the back galley and made threatening remarks to a second flight attendant, expressing a desire to punch her and shoot her.

Other passengers alerted the flight crew that Ford was being unruly and causing them to feel unsafe. He reportedly claimed to have brought a gun onto the flight and threatened to “tear the plane apart.”

Witnesses also mentioned seeing Ford drinking from a liquor bottle, which was discovered to be “mostly empty” near his seat.

Ford’s wife attempted to take a bottle of Hennessy away from him, which resulted in a physical fight. Passengers intervened to help her escape to a safer part of the plane.

He continued to threaten the flight attendants, stating that his friends in New York would follow them and “destroy them.”

The flight was redirected to Richmond International Airport in Virginia, where police met the aircraft and escorted Ford off. Following the incident, crew members received new accommodations after arriving in New York.

Ford later stated that he was intoxicated and had no memory of the events that occurred during the flight.

A hearing for Ford is set for April 2, and he could face up to 20 years in prison for obstructing a flight crew, as per the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In 2023, there were 2,075 incidents involving unruly passengers reported by the Federal Aviation Administration. This year, there have already been 1,921 such reports.