A Utah man pulls a straight razor blade on another passenger board a JetBlue flight to Salt Lake City

Razor Blade To The Neck

Just a couple weeks after a passenger was apprehended for bringing two box cutters on board a Frontier flight headed for Tampa.

On Monday, the alleged Merrill Fackrell was on a JetBlue flight from JFK to Salt Lake City. Fackrell was sitting in his window seat when the woman in the seat next to him started filming. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah, he put his hand over her screen and asked the woman to stop. Then the woman realized Fackrell was holding a blade “inches from her skin be her throat/neck,” according to the statement released.

Husband & Crew To The Rescue

The husband of the woman asked a flight attendant for help, as he went off she jumped to the aisle to escape Fackrell. Fackrell reached for her should. However, flight attendants eventually de-escalated the issue.

In a statement from the Transportation Security Administration, they said it “take[s] our responsibility to secure the airspace for the traveling public is very serious,” as reported by TBEN News.

JetBlue Statement

Photo Credit: Kindel Media

Once the flight landed, Fackrell was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon on an aircraft.

“Crew members responded by working to de-escalate the situation and notified police of the Salt Lake City flight,” JetBlue said in a statement Friday. “The safety of our customers and crew members is JetBlue’s number one priority, and we will support law enforcement in their investigation.”