Saudi Teen Caps Wild Week With Airplane Bust

FEBRUARY
22--The man who repeatedly yelled “Allah is great” as he was removed
yesterday from a plane that was forced to make an emergency landing due
to his unruly behavior is a 19-year-old Saudi Arabian who was arrested
Sunday night after he led Oregon police on a drunken car chase that saw
him ram two cop cars and attempt to run over pedestrians, The Smoking
Gun has learned.

According
to investigators, Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan was smoking an electronic
cigarette on a Continental Airlines flight traveling from Portland to
Houston. When a flight attendant directed Abunayyan to stop smoking (or
relinquish the device), he refused and began “yelling profanities and
swinging his fist at the flight attendant,” according to an indictment filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Abunayyan,
pictured in the mug shot at right, also hit or attempted to hit other
passengers and was “speaking or singing about Usama bin Laden and his
hatred of women,” the indictment charges. Abunayyan was charged with a
felony count of interfering with flight crew members.

Male
passengers on the Boeing 737 helped a flight attendant subdue Abunayyan,
who was removed from the plane in plastic handcuffs and turned over to
FBI agents. The Continental flight returned to Portland 20 minutes after
departure.

Abunayyan, who is scheduled to appear later this
afternoon before a federal magistrate, was arrested Sunday evening by
cops after a wild car chase in Medford, an Oregon city 275 miles south
of Portland.

Police reported that the intoxicated teenager led
them on a 20-minute chase that ended after his Ford sedan got stuck on a
dirt embankment. During the chase, Abunayyan was spotted driving in
circles, attempting to run over pedestrians, and driving the wrong way
on a street. He also rammed two patrol cars.

"It was like ‘Grand Theft Auto',” a witness told a local newspaper.

Abunayyan
was booked late Sunday into the Jackson County jail on a variety of
charges, including driving under the influence of intoxicants, assault
on a police officer, criminal mischief, hit and run, and reckless
endangerment.

He was freed from custody Monday after posting $65,000 bond. Which allowed him, a day later, to board Flight 1118. (2 pages)