Saudi teen's wild week after he leads Oregon police on Grand Theft Auto chase and then forced down a flight to Texas with smoking and a song about Osama bin Laden

  • He started screaming 'Allah is great' when asked to turn off his electronic cigarette on flight from Portland to Houston on Tuesday
  • Crashed into two police cars during the chase just days before

By Mark Duell and Michael Zennie
Updated:


Yazeed Mohammeda Abunayyan

Unruly: Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan starting shouting and trying to hit a flight attendant

Being physically suppressed by airplane passengers after he had been shouting 'Allah is great' was a fitting end to a very bad week for one unruly Saudi teen.

The plane incident came just two days after Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan, 19, was arrested after causing a 'Grand Theft Auto'-style police chase, during which he rammed two squad cars and tried to run down a pedestrian -- all while grinning wildly.

He was out on $65,000 bail when he boarded the plane in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, but that didn't stop him from getting into even more trouble.

Abunayyan started screaming when a flight attendant asked him to turn off his electronic cigarette and began causing a ruckus on the Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston, Texas.

Passengers say he started screaming, punching at the woman and singing or muttering about dead Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

‘He was screaming: “Allah is great, Allah is great”. It kind of worries you when that happens,' passenger Nancy Haywood told CBS affiliate KHOU.

Passengers said the man was unruly from the beginning of the journey after he was not given a seat next to his friend on Flight 1113.

After the plane took off the man lit up - but when he refused to turn off his device, passengers jumped up to help the flight attendant.

‘Every guy that was in my area was ready to go,’ passenger Mark Foster told KHOU. ‘It was not even a thought. You can tell buckles were off.’

grab on plane
grab on plane

Taken away: The Continental Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Houston, Texas, had only just taken off when Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan ignored the ‘No Smoking’ sign

Arrested

Arrested: After he was subdued, a crew member zip-tied his hands. When the plane landed, he was arrested and handed over to the FBI

The passengers held Abunayyan down while the attendant grabbed plastic handcuffs and ankle-cuffs to keep him subdued until the plane landed.

The pilots turned the plane back to Portland 20 minutes after it had taken off at 12:17pm and it landed again at 1:17pm, reported KHOU.

‘Every guy that was in my area was ready to go. It was not even a thought. You can tell buckles were off'

-passenger Mark Foster

Abunayyan and his friend were arrested and taken off the plane by police at Portland airport before it took off again at 2:05pm.

The Transportation Security Administration said it was not a security issue. An FBI spokesman said the man will face charges.

Electronic cigarettes, which contain a lithium battery that heats up liquid nicotine inside to create a harmless vapour, do not burn tobacco.

However, Continental Airlines policy states it does not allow ‘the use of electronic (or) simulated smoking materials’ on flights, reported The Oregonian.

Shocked: Passenger Nancy Haywood said others allegedly held down the unruly Middle Eastern man who was screaming 'Allah is great'

Shocked: Passenger Nancy Haywood said others allegedly held down the unruly Middle Eastern man who was screaming 'Allah is great'

Assistance: Passenger Mark Foster said everyone in his area of the plane was ready to help out the flight attendant and it was 'not even a thought'

Assistance: Passenger Mark Foster said everyone in his area of the plane was ready to help out the flight attendant and it was 'not even a thought'

Before the fracas aboard the plane, Abunayyan, a Saudi Arabian national, was visiting family members five hours from Portland in Ashland, Oregon.

On Sunday night, he allegedly led officers on a bizarre, 20-minute low speed police chase that was like something out of a violent video game, one witness said.

'It was like "Grand Theft Auto,' Adrian Olesnyckyj told the Ashland Daily Tidings.

'Initially, I thought it was someone who skidded out because it was raining.

But when the driver skidded three times: '… that's when I knew something was up, so I called the cops.’

During the chase, which never exceeded 40 miles per hour, Abunayyan slammed into one place car in a parking lot and then tried to run down a pedestrian.

He then hit another squad car twice, before running his car into an embankment, according to police.

Abunayyan's dome light was on during the chase and officers reported that they could see him grinning as he eluded them.

He was booked on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, eluding police, two charges of first-degree criminal mischief, three charges of hit and run, six charges of reckless endangerment, and two charges of assault on an officer.

Saudi Arabia

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