...and she was drunk, disruptive and prone to exposing herself
to pax, crew and FBI agent
Shirley Martin
Lindstrom, 66, boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from Orlando
(FL) to Albuquerque (NM) on Friday. By all accounts, she was
probably intoxicated when she boarded. The flight attendant should
have figured that out when she immediately demanded pillows, her
pain medication... and alcohol. Not exactly a prescription
combination. Nevertheless, he still served her a couple of glasses
of wine, which she demanded be delivered before anyone else in the
cabin was served.
By the time the flight landed, it was in Amarillo (TX), and FBI
agents were waiting for her at the door. The official story is that
she was arrested, taken to the local US District Court and charged
with interference with a flight crew, a charge for which she now
faces fines and a possible imprisonment term of twenty years.
That is where the
boring part of the story ends. The Amarillo Globe-News took a
gander at the affidavit filed by the FBI agent who arrested Ms.
Lindstrom, and the story just gets better from that point on.
According to the affidavit, the Amarillo FBI office got a call
from the government's Counterterrorism Watch Center, and was told
the Southwest 737 was being diverted because a pax had made a bomb
threat. Once the aircraft landed, the agent spoke with one of the
flight attendants, and was told about Lindstrom's demands upon
boarding the plane. He added she was acting strangely, laying down
in her seat, blocking the aisle with her legs, exposing her bra to
the cabin crew and placing her hand on the crotch of a male
passenger who was, until then, sound asleep next to her.
Lindstrom then decided to up the ante and have an interesting
conversation with the flight attendant. Her words: "I know there is
a bomb on the plane" and "I know we are being hijacked."
After she was arrested by the FBI, Lindstrom allegedly picked up
her shirt and exposed herself, then denied knowing why she said
there was a bomb on the aircraft. A thorough examination of the 737
revealed no explosives.
She then proceeded to tell an airport officer and a US Customs
agent the she was going to kill the FBI agent who had interrogated
her. While she was being transported to jail, she asked the
officers how much money they made, then allegedly offered them
between several hundred to a thousand dollars if they would set her
free. The officers asked her if she was trying to bribe them in
their position as federal agents.
She answered "yes."
ANN's sources were unable to confirm by press time if Ms.
Lindstrom was experiencing alcohol-induced temporary loss of
inhibitions, or was just venting after not being able to have her
picture taken with Goofy.