A woman who lives in a remote region of Alaska where the consumption or possession of alcohol is banned has been arrested after getting drunk on an Alaska Airlines flight to the state’s most populous city, Anchorage, and lashing out at her husband.
Caryn Evan, 38, from the small, remote Alaskan village of Chefornak in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, was arrested on Tuesday night on suspicion of interference with flight crew after Alaska Airlines flight AS46 landed in Anchorage.
Evan and her husband had traveled from Chefornak to Bethel to catch the flight to Anchorage and, once in Bethel Airport, had taken advantage of the city’s more lax alcohol rules and consumed two or three drinks prior to boarding the flight.
An off-duty police officer noticed Evan in Bethel Airport because she seemed “very intoxicated” and aggressive and kept bumping into people.
Despite her behavior, however, Evan was allowed to board the flight, and once in the air, she had one or two more alcoholic drinks during the approximately one-hour flight.
As the plane was making its initial descent to land and the flight attendants started to prepare the cabin for arrival, they were alerted by other passengers to Evan acting erratically towards her husband.
Evan’s husband told FBI investigators that he believes her behavior quickly deteriorated when she gulped down the rest of her drink because the flight was coming to an end.
At that point, she started shouting incoherently and striking her husband. The flight attendants managed to deescalate the situation by moving her husband to the back of the plane but not long after, Evan was witnessed “moving uncontrollably, flailing about and interfering with passengers around her.”
According to a criminal complaint, a nurse volunteered to sit by Evan for the remainder of the flight, but upon landing, flight attendants had to intervene when Evan started to hit her head against the seat in front.
The flight attendants decided to place Evan’s hands in flexcuffs, at which point she calmed down, and once the plane arrived at the gate, law enforcement took her into custody.
Perhaps stating the obvious, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska says that “alcohol was allegedly a factor in Evan’s conduct.”
Chefornak is a village of around 450 people where the possession, consumption, and importation of alcohol are strictly prohibited. Despite these measures, however, the town still faces issues with illegal alcohol importation.
