BANGOR, Maine — The French citizen accused of causing a US Airways jet to be diverted to Bangor on Tuesday will not be charged, U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said Wednesday after Lucie Zeeko Marigot, 41, appeared before a federal judge.
Marigot, who was born in Cameroon and is married to a French citizen, will be turned over to the section of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that handles deportation, Delahanty said at an impromptu press conference after Marigot’s brief court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk. Marigot will be connected with personnel at US Airways and returned to France, he said.
Technically, Marigot will be refused entry into the United States by U.S. Border Protection and Customs officers at Bangor International Airport, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney James McCarthy, who worked on her case.
“When passengers on commercial flights are refused entry into the country, it is the responsibility of the commercial carrier to see that they are returned to the country from which the flight originated,” McCarthy said.
Marigot was flying to the United States to seek medical attention but had not made appointments with physicians, according to Jon Haddow, the Bangor attorney who represented her at the hearing. She had surgery in France and seemed to be concerned that some kind of “medical hardware” might have been left behind, he said after the hearing.
“She sent a note to the pilot thinking she might get some medical help once the plane landed,” Haddow said.
Marigot was taken into custody Tuesday by the FBI but was never formally charged, Delahanty said Wednesday.
She was traveling from Paris to North Carolina when she handed the note to a flight attendant claiming that she had a surgically implanted device, prompting concerns about possible terrorism.
Through court officer Bert Cyr, who agreed to act as her interpreter, Marigot apologized for causing such a stir.
“She wishes to apologize to the court and this country,” Cyr told Kravchuk. “She didn’t realize in writing this note that it would be misunderstood. She loves the country and would like to have stayed.”
Marigot was dressed in bluejeans embroidered with flowers and a long-sleeved white shirt. She appeared nervous and afraid, but apologetic, in court.
The consequences of Marigot’s actions were unclear Wednesday. While she might be placed on a “no fly” list or banned from re-entering the U.S. for a period of time, McCarthy said he did not know if either of those things would happen.
When the plane was over the Atlantic Ocean, it was the correct decision to divert the flight to Bangor, given the circumstances that were known at the time, Delahanty said in a press release.
“Marigot had given a note to the flight attendant along with a book authored by her that details her personal story,” Delahanty said in the press release, which was issued Wednesday afternoon after Marigot’s court appearance. “Both the note and the book were in French. The note sought help from President and Mrs. Obama and the American people.
“The note stated that she was ‘simply a victim of a group of doctors’ and that she had ‘an object in her body that is out of my control,’” he continued in the press release. “When the flight attendant asked whether the object could hurt her or others, she replied that she did not know. An examination by two doctors on board determined that she had no visible scars indicating any kind of implant.”
Delahanty declined Wednesday to answer questions about whether Marigot was X-rayed for such devices once she was taken into custody in Bangor.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, was briefed earlier this week on the incident by Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole. Her office confirmed Thursday that Marigot had a CT scan while in Bangor.
There is no evidence the plane was ever in danger, officials said Tuesday. However, the FBI and Homeland Security Department warned airlines last summer that terrorists are considering surgically hiding bombs inside humans to evade airport security.
After the flight arrived in Bangor, a search of the plane and baggage revealed no explosives or dangerous items, Delahanty said in the press release. The continuing investigation revealed that the plane and its crew and passengers were never in any danger.
It may not have seemed that way when two F-15 fighters scrambled to escort Boeing Flight 787, with 179 passengers and nine crew members aboard, to Bangor International Airport, where it landed shortly after noon Tuesday. The Transportation Security Administration issued a statement saying the passenger’s suspicious behavior warranted the unscheduled stop.
“We saw lots of police and federal customs people take a woman off the plane in handcuffs,” said passenger Stuart Frankel of Baltimore. “People were amazed at what was going on. We didn’t know what was happening until we landed.”
The flight was about 40 minutes away from Bangor when local officials were alerted. After landing, the Boeing 767 taxied to a remote part of the airport, where law enforcement officials removed the passenger, Tony Caruso, acting airport manager, said Tuesday.
Frankel said passengers had been advised to keep their shades down during a movie, so they didn’t realize fighter jets had been dispatched to intercept the flight. There were a couple of calls on the overhead speakers for doctors, but that didn’t seem especially unusual, he said.
Eventually, the pilot advised them that the jet needed to land for fuel in Maine.
William Milam from Richmond, Va., said he had spoken French with the woman and helped her get her luggage into an overhead bin.
After the woman was removed from the flight, passengers were informed that they would have to leave while the jet was checked for explosives, Milam said. “This is like, ‘Wow,’” he said. “I’m thinking drugs. And they’re thinking explosives.”
Several passengers said they had noticed that particular passenger because of her slight stature and big eyelashes. They said she attracted attention by walking up and down the aisle throughout the flight.
Several hours after landing in Bangor, the plane was cleared to continue to its final destination in Charlotte, N.C., and arrived 3½ hours late.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
So charge her $$$$$, pay for all those that had to respond to her stupid little prank.
And how are the going to collect these funds when she is not an American? All they can do is give her a ticket home and not allow her re-entry into the United States.
How do you know it was a prank?
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I think “ihuntandfish2” was being sarcastic when saying it was a “prank”. Oh and by the way, if that was a man that pulled that stunt I bet he’d be in prison or a mental home right now and not getting off Scott FREE like that.
Except she may have had a medical device inside her as she stated, oh and by the way, USA TODAY says only 6% of Americans were “sane” enough to oppose the invasion of Afghanistan in January 2002.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-03-16-poll_N.htm – USA TODAY March 16, 2009
http://theyellowcrayon.tumblr.com/post/11067930803-
The $$$$$ response is considered “self-inflicted injury” by the government and airline. The passenger wasn’t acting in bad faith. The airline and government simply overreacted.
I don’t think that acting on “good” or “bad” faith has anything to do with it. The simple fact is that she scared the Bjesus out of passengers. It’s sort of like those numb nuts that walk around the city with dogs that bark and snarl, and say “Oh she won’t bite she’s friendly”. Well, I don’t know that, I’ve never seen that dog before or know it’s intentions, nor have I ever seen that owner before. Why should I take it on faith that the owner is telling the truth. When the fact is the dog ran up to someone snarling with it’s teeth showing and barking. The “context” has nothing to do with the fact that it was “scary”. I think even if this woman is mentally Ill she should be in a Mental Facility being evaluated, not given a free ride on yet “another plane” back to France. Not until she’s been properly treated. I find this unnerving that ANYONE can create a scary & terrifying situation on a plane and get away with it so easily simply because there was seemingly no “bad intent”. So even if she doesn’t go to jail or prison she should at least be at a Mental Institution for some period of time.
Except the simple fact is not that she scared passengers. She probably didn’t really scare anyone. The simple fact is that in this country, it’s tolerable to use mob mentality when handling confusing situations. The flight attendant didn’t really understand what the passenger was saying. The flight attendant could have let it go (and possibly been reprimanded for not reporting it) or pass the incomprehensible situation along (and let someone else deal with it). This passing-the-buck repeats all the way up the security chain to the fighter pilot sent out to follow the airliner which is in no danger of crashing into a skyscraper. No decision makers along the way seemed to ask “is there really a problem here?” They just followed the path of least liability for themselves, greatest liability for the taxpayer.
The dog analogy would make sense only if the passenger had something like a toy bomb in her handbag. The best analogy you could make here is someone carrying a cellphone with a ringtone that sounds like an angry, barking dog.
A similar incident was the Boston Mooninite bomb scare of 2006. Comedy Central posted light-brite signs put up around the city, someone mentioned it to the police. The police on scene definitely knew it was not-a-bomb, but they didn’t quite know what was the point of the sign. So, they report it to dispatch, and that sets a whole security apparatus in motion, propelled by $2 million in overtime. At no point did anyone seriously think there was something dangerous going on. They just had an unknown, and a procedure for dealing with bombs, and nobody in the chain of command stood enough and said “Enough of this already.” The more you go along with it, the more you and your friends get paid.
Airline security procedures here are not driven by safety, as much as they are by avoiding liability. It’s not that nobody wants another 9/11, but that nobody wants to be blamed for the possibility of another 9/11. Big difference.
That 18 people like your incredibly ignorant comment makes me seriously worry for the future of this country.
I agree. Gee the US imprisoned detainees at Abu Ghraib in Iraq on far less than this. And some of them with no evidence at all.
What the !!!!. She caused great fear and TERROR to the poor people on that flight. Cost the Airline a bunch of money, as well as the US taxpayer, to scramble two fighters and escort the plane the BIA. No charges. That’s BS.
I wonder if the passengers could go after her in civil court for pain and suffering? They should.
Life isn’t always black and white.
Pain and suffering? I don’t believe they were ever in any pain and I don’t think there was any suffering considering that the crew told passengers that the plane had to land in Bangor because they needed fuel. Too many sue happy people out there.
Ok, I hate friviolus lawsuits. I guess I didn’t realize the crew lied to the passengers. I figured she anounced her intentions in view of the passengers. There were reports of a Dr checking her for recent scars. I figured the Dr was a passenger and other passengers knew of the issue.
Either way she cost the airline and the US taxpayers a bunch of cash. She should be forced reimburse both.
FB
She didn’t cost the airlines a dime, it was their choice to overreact to something as simple as this lady seeking help. Could she have gone about it differently? Perhaps.
More like US Airways, with an abundance of caution, over-reacted because they didn’t understand what she was saying. Cooler heads (prosecutor, judge) evaluated the situation once the plane was down and sanity prevailed. Think of it this way: If I thought your house was on fire and called in the fire department, and it turns out I was wrong, should you be required to pay the fire department costs?
She was coming to the U.S. to seek medical attention?
What did she do, hear about Obamacare?
Homer, your post does not make any sense. What part of the Affordable Care Act do you believe provides free medical care to French citizens? I am so fascinated by your conclusion. Could you elaborate?
Since my conclusion fascinates you then it may be difficult
for you to understand that the “affordable care act” or
commonly known as Obamacare will still be “affordable’ for
illegal immigrants or anyone who comes here and decides to
slide under the radar and receive what many of us will still
be paying for. If you really believe that “affordable” is the truth,
then please enlighten us as to WHO is paying for this wonderful
plan that will provide the most wonderful socialist healthcare.
Sorry if I dazzled you dizzle but the “affordable care act” only
got it’s name because they tried other types of catchy phrases
and still couldn’t sell it.
Payback ? How about forcing this woman to pay for the wasted jet fuel for her fighter escort to Bangor instead of the American Taxpayer. All the passengers that missed their connecting flights. I am sure the bill between the Police agencies and the Air Force and the Airline is well over 100,000 Dollars if not more.
That’s just it. In the USA more often than not women get off scott free. I’m not making this up just look at the history of the news reports. If that was a man that did this he’d be in prison awaiting trail for possible terrorist threats OR at least in a mental home somewhere awaiting psych evaluation. For some reason in the USA there is obvious “Reverse Bigotry”. It’s unfair.
Aside from the national psychosis we have with air travel, I believe a man would not make your argument. Man up.
yes seamus37, because speaking out against “inequality” in the treatment of the sexes is so unmanly. ha ha ha That is exactly the kind of attitude that women faced in the 1950s when they spoke out about their unequal treatment. They were told it wasn’t “lady like” or “something women should do”. But heaven forbid in 2012 some man would point out the reverse inequality going on without having their manhood insulted by reverse-bigots like you.
As some General probably said, ” Good training for the boys! “.
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Except two doctors determined that she had no visible scars. Tough to have had a device implanted without leaving a scar. It sounds to me like she made up the whole story out of whole cloth and should be doing some jail time before being sent back home.
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Please don’t take this the wrong way but if that was a man he’d be in prison awaiting trail. Or more specifically a Middle Eastern man. This isn’t just my opinion but just look at the news history in the USA. Women get off far easier. She’s not even sent to a mental facility to be evaluated. Just a slap on the wrist little missy and a free plane ticket to France. All over the news there is one case after the other with this obvious “reverse bigotry” in which women can drown their kids, kill someone drunk driving, hack someone to death, or pass a note of a possible terrorist threat and still get off Scott FREE! Please dont take this post down and NO I don’t hate women. I have a lot of female friends. It’s just that if this was a man that did this I guarantee you “he’d” be in prison awaiting trail right now. Or at least at Acadia or Dorathia Dix. Why the constant “reverse bigotry”???
It’s not really possible to back up that guarantee since your argument is about a totally hypothetical situation, made up by you.
I’m not sure there’s a non-wrong way to take that.
I tweeted this just twenty-four hours ago……..
Peter Ramsay
@pjramsay
US Air makes an unscheduled stop in Bangor. Passenger spoke of an “implanted device.” How much of this was terrorism or language barrier?
why would anybody tweet?
She’s not a US Citizen, if her scare was not valid and everything was safe, well our country will send our tourists back and have no charges filed against them, now on the other hand if it was a US Citizen, we would be looking out some bars right now.
Maybe they left something in there and the french government wants her back…
A closer reading of the article might illuminate this situation:
“…U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II told a federal magistrate judge that the evidence uncovered in a brief investigation didn’t support charging Lucie Zeeko Marigot, 41, with interfering with a flight crew.”
NO CRIME, the prosector sees no case. Imagine a scenario: you are from a developing nation in Africa and you come up against medical staff there that will not listen to your complaints, or even treat you with respect–you are a woman, after all. You might try to get help in France, as you are a citizen. Why? Because you might have been born there, or your parents were diplomats, or maybe France gives citizenship to Cameroonians in certain circumstances, part of its former UN Trusteeship. I do not know, I am imagining. You also do not know.
The facts have not come out in the news as yet.
But France has its share of racism, and medical misogyny (look it up) too. Your ailments maybe have you thinking not quite clearly. Maybe a country with an advanced medical system, that generally respects women, with a black man as president can help you?
You fly to the US, even though you only speak French, to seek help.So maybe you are naive, maybe you do come from the big cities. You tell a friendly flight attendant about your trip, and maybe because you think you will be better understood, you put it in writing?
“…The investigation determined that Marigot, who speaks only French, gave a note to a flight attendant along with a book she had written…..Marigot said she had been wronged by a group of doctors and that she had something inside her that was “out of control,” Delahanty said. She also said she wanted medical help from President Barack Obama and the American people, he said….”
Before you can say “Sacre Bleu!” you have two people (men?) doing a possibly intimate exam of your body. Do they speak French? Does anyone attempt to explain to you what is going? Wouldn’t you get excited, belligerent, “hysterical?”
Could this be an overreaction by a flight attendant and a flight crew? Will the airline come out with more details? If wrong, will there be an apology to Ms. Lucie Zeeko Marigot?
POINT IS: I have no idea that that is what happened. Neither do you. There is often not just “another” side to a story but SEVERAL sides to a story: the pilot’s, the passengers, the TSA’s, the flight attendant’s, maybe even Ms. Lucie Zeeko Marigot’s friends’ and relatives’ who could tell us more about her, and her problems.
May you never have such problems yourself.
BDN video player isn’t very good. I start to watch the video, am presented with an ad and start to read the article in the meantime. I miss the video because I am reading, and then then when I go to replay the video I am presented wit another ad. These ads are the reason I usually don’t even bother with BDN videos to begin with.
*I realize this isn’t related to the article, but w/e!!!!!!
I dont care if this woman was Loony or whatever was going on in her head..she should have been charged with something! If she wasnt acting in bad faith then she should of spoke up at the dang airport instead of playing games by writing on a piece of paper and handing it out in mid-air . She could have said the same thing verbally. She should at least have to pay for the disruption of this flight..if it was a man who did this then he would have been immediatly arrested and a whole other story would be in the news and he would have to pay restitution…Ridiculous!
If she was honestly seeking medical help and that led to a misunderstanding and a whole lot of over-reaction, why’s she being refused entry anyway? For providing an opportunity for the authorities to embarrass themselves?
And if US Airways hadn’t acted like they did AND there really was an implanted device and it blew up – people would then complain that US Airways screwed up. Terrorism is a very real threat to the US and these nut cases will use women, children – any means to inflict pain and suffering on us. It is better to be overly cautious. And why couldn’t this woman have waited until she got to Charlotte to tell someone about this device…..I don’t believe her….she had no scars, etc there is something not right about her story. If I was on that plane I would be glad the airlines reacted the way they did.
To all you types who are saying “Make her pay, take her to jail” you are what is wrong with this country. Send a clearly very mentally ill woman to jail, make her pay tons of money. Punish her for doing something she didnt even know was wrong. I cant even begin to describe how utterly ignorant such things are. I could make the attempt, but this post would get deleted before my point was even made. Regardless, making this woman suffer is NOT the answer. It was a mistake, she made a choice in ill judgement because she didnt know any better. Should we start punishing children in such ways for eating too much candy? What lunacy. No wonder I have always felt that “society” was too filthy for me to tolerate.