'Suspicious' passenger delays flight from Detroit
2/17/2010ROMULUS, Mich.— An Oklahoma-bound flight was delayed several hours in Detroit as police questioned a suspicious passenger and searched the plane but found no threat, officials said.
The crew of Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3697 delayed takeoff Tuesday night and notified airport police after noticing a boarding passenger's behavior at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, said airline spokesman Joe Williams. Other passengers were taken off the plane as it was searched.
Airport spokesman Mike Conway said the man was showing “suspicious behavior,” but police determined he did not pose a threat after conducting a background check and interviewing the man.
Conway and Williams wouldn't elaborate on the man's behavior or what caught the crew's attention. Jon Allen, an Atlanta-based Transportation Security Administration spokesman, also declined to provide details.
Williams said the man was allowed to re-board the flight. It departed around 10:40 p.m., more than three hours late, and landed in Oklahoma City just after midnight Wednesday, according to online flight records.