Teen who caused flight ruckus back to face charges for Ashland incident

Article author: 
Sam Wheeler
Article publisher: 
Mail Tribune
Article date: 
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Article category: 
Crime
Medium
Article Body: 

A19-year-old Saudi Arabian who allegedly rammed two police cars in February, then was arrested for causing a disturbance on a plane in Portland two days later, is back in Jackson County to face local charges after pleading guilty to the federal charge of interfering with a flight crew.

Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland, where District Judge Marco Hernandez sentenced Abunayyan to time served and ordered him to pay a $100 fine.

Jail records in Multnomah and Jackson counties indicate Abunayyan was released in Portland Friday morning and transported back to Jackson County.

He will face multiple charges of criminal mischief, driving while intoxicated and reckless endangerment stemming from the Feb. 19 incident in Ashland.

Abunayyan, who family members say suffers from schizophrenia and hadn't been taking his medication for weeks before he was arrested, led Ashland police on a low-speed chase before ramming two police cars, authorities said. After his arrest, he posted bail and signed an agreement that he would remain in the state until his next court appearance.

But on Feb. 21, Abunayyan boarded a Continental Airlines flight in Portland bound for Houston. It was forced to return to the Portland International Airport 30 minutes later after Abunayyan caused a disturbance when a flight attendant asked him to extinguish an electronic cigarette.

Court records said he yelled obscenities, tried to hit two passengers and mentioned Osama bin Laden before he was subdued.

Fahad Alsubaie, 21, a Saudi Arabian international exchange student studying English at Southern Oregon University and Abunayyan's cousin, accompanied Abunayyan on the flight.

Alsubaie said he was escorting his cousin "to keep an eye on him." The pair planned to head back to Saudi Arabia to see Abunayyan's mother, who was very ill.

Alsubaie said he spoke with Abunayyan about a week ago when the latter was incarcerated in Portland.

"He told me he was doing OK," said Alsubaie, who hoped to arrange a visit with his cousin in the Jackson County Jail. Now that Abunayyan is back in Jackson County, "I can't say if he is good or bad now," Alsubaie said.

A Jackson County grand jury on Feb. 28 indicted Abunayyan on 14 charges, including one count of attempting to elude, two counts of first-degree criminal mischief, three counts of second-degree criminal mischief, failure to perform the duties of a driver when property is damaged, driving under the influence of intoxicants, five counts of recklessly endangering another person, and contempt of court for violating his bail agreement.

Another count of reckless endangerment and a charge of being an illegal alien have been added since then.

Abunayyan's bail is set at $4,000, but because of his illegal alien charge, if he were to post bail, he wouldn't leave Jackson County Jail unless it was in the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, a jail official said.

Jackson County Deputy District Attorney David Hoppe said Abunayyan's case could be handled quickly.

"We're going to try to plead him out early next week," Hoppe said.