An Irish football coach has been accused of causing mayhem on a Delta Airlines flight from Dublin to New York by mooning first-class passengers and refusing to mask up.
Shane McInerney, 29, faces up to 20 years in a US jail after he was charged with assaulting and intimidating a member of the flight crew on the January 7 flight.
A complaint unsealed this week says McInerney refused to wear a face mask despite “dozens” of requests from the flight crew.
Documents say he became increasingly disruptive to the point where the crew considered diverting the plane in order to have him removed.
Galway native McInerney was flying to the States to take up a job teaching soccer at an academy in Daytona, Florida, according to police.
He was seated in economy class but stormed into the first-class cabin to complain about his food, according to the court papers.
It states that as he was being escorted back to his seat McInerney “pulled down his pants and underwear and exposed his buttocks” to passengers in first-class.
At another point, McInerney threw an “empty beverage can” which hit the head of another passenger on the plane, according to the FBI court filings.
An FBI agent noted in an affidavit: “At least one passenger found the defendant’s conduct to be scary.
“The flight crew members and flight attendants on the airplane repeatedly stopped their ordinary duties to address him.”
The pilot took a break two hours into the trans-Atlantic flight and came back into the cabin to speak with McInerney and settle him down.
During the conversation, McInerney twice took off his own cap and placed it on the pilot’s head, before removing it again, the complaint states.
He also allegedly raised a fist to the pilot’s face and told him: “Don’t touch me.”
McInerney was a kicker for Peru State College’s American football team last year, scoring a clean sheet nine out of nine field goals.
In an interview last month he shared his dream of becoming an NFL kicker.
McInerney made his initial appearance in Brooklyn Federal Court on January 14, where he was released on a $20,000 bond.
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
