SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 21, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A Texas man was arrested after hiding out in restrooms on an airliner at Salt Lake City’s airport, allegedly trying for a free ride home.
Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, who goes by “Cliff” according to federal charging documents, first drew attention to himself by trying to open an emergency equipment storage door upon boarding a Delta flight headed to Austin, Texas. A flight attendant who observed him ended up directing him to the front lavatory of the plane.
He stayed there while the plane filled up with passengers, then went to the aft lavatory. As the plane was beginning to taxi to a runway, he came out and another flight attendant, knowing the plane was full, asked for his seat number. Finding it was occupied by someone not named Fleurizard, according to the documents, it was discovered he had no ticket or boarding reservation for this or any other Delta flight.
The plane then taxied back to the gate where Salt Lake City police waited. Officers checked surveillance footage in the airport boarding area which showed Fleurizard taking photos with his phone of other people’s phones and boarding passes “while they were not looking.”
He then used his phone with images of someone else’s credentials to board the plane, according to the federal court filings charging Fleurizard, of George, Texas, Monday with one count of being a stowaway..
He told officers he had tried unsuccessfully for two days prior to get on a Southwest Airlines flight to make a family gathering in Texas after skiing in Utah. “Fleurizard admitted he made a mistake and was only trying to get home,” according to his probable cause statement.
It was not entirely clear from federal detention documents, but he may still be in the Salt Lake County jail, officials finding he has an active arrest warrant out of Austin, Texas, where police have flagged him as having “violent tendencies.”
