Washington Man Charged With Disrupting Flight To LA From Seattle

PORTLAND, OR – A man from Washington is in a Portland jail, charged with disrupting a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles. The FBI says that 21-year-old Douglas B. Smyser is charged with two state crimes – menacing and disorderly conduct – as well as federal counts.

Officials say that between 20 and 30 minutes after the flight left Seattle, the flight's captain and crew became concerned that Smyser, of Bonney Lake, WA, would try to rush the cockpit.

At that tine, the decision was made to divert the plane to Portland where he was arrested by officers from the Port of Portland.

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Passengers and members of the crew said Smyser throwing his backpack into the aisle only to then claim that it wasn't his. They also said that he refused to stay in his seat and started pacing and tried to move to the front of the plane.

One member of the crew said that Smyser told her that "someone has a gun in the back row of this plane."

The FBI says that once the plane started to make its descent toward Portland, a passenger helped force Smyser back to his seat and "used his body weight to physically block Smyser from leaving his seat until Port officers took him into custody."

Passengers and crew members kept the man restrained until the plane landed in Portland.

The flight eventually made it to Los Angeles.

Smyser will be in Portland federal court on Friday afternoon.

Photo of Smyser via the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.