A Minnesota man is accused of using drugs in an airplane bathroom and assaulting crew members during a flight to Anchorage this week.
Christian David Burch, 37, was arrested Sunday after the Alaska Airlines jet landed at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
About two-and-a-half hours after the plane left Minneapolis, a flight attendant heard screams coming from the bathroom in the back of the plane, according to an affidavit written by an FBI agent and included in the charges filed by a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska. Burch punched the bathroom door open, and the flight attendant smelled a burnt, metallic odor, the affidavit said. She later described Burch to the FBI agent as angry and with drool and foam coming from his mouth.
Burch walked quickly past his seat to the front of the plane and was stumbling, the affidavit said. A flight attendant stopped him before he reached the cockpit and had him sit in a seat toward the front of the plane, so he could receive medical attention, the affidavit said.
A nurse who was a passenger on the flight assessed Burch and said he needed Narcan, the affidavit said. Narcan is used to reverse an opioid overdose. While the flight crew was retrieving Narcan from the back of the plane, Burch became combative, the affidavit said.
Three passengers came to help flight attendants restrain Burch so the nurse could administer Narcan, according to the affidavit. The flight attendants handcuffed him. Burch began bleeding from his nose, and his blood got on several of the flight attendants and passengers, the affidavit said. One of the flight attendants reported having scratches on her neck and hands from the struggle with Burch.
A piece of foil with a white powdery substance fell from Burch’s pocket, the affidavit said. He was given a sedation medication and remained calm for the remaining two hours of the flight, according to the affidavit.
Burch was removed from the plane by airport police and an FBI agent after it landed around 11 a.m. During an interview, he told investigators he planned to travel to Homer, and during the flight had experienced vertigo and woke up on the floor with people on top of him, the affidavit said. He later told them that before the flight he had taken edibles laced with a substance similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to the affidavit.
He tried to hide a piece of foil from investigators during the interview, and a test of his carry-on bag later showed trace amounts of heroin and carfentanyl, the affidavit said. Carfentanyl is a strong opioid used to anesthetize large animals.
Burch’s charges include interference with flight crew members and assault. He remained in custody Tuesday morning and was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday.
Reports of crimes onboard planes have increased during recent years, according to a statement Tuesday from the FBI. The FAA reported peak numbers of unruly passengers in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic and pandemic-related restrictions, but there were a high number of reports in 2022, as well. Anyone who is a victim or witnesses a crime during a flight can report the incident to their flight crew and contact the FBI online or at 1-800-CALL-FBI.