Plane With Christie On Board Gets Stuck In San Francisco After Passenger Is Removed
SAN FRANCISCO (CBSNewYork/CBS SF) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie found himself stuck in San Francisco Friday, after police pulled a passenger off a plane on which the governor was traveling.
San Francisco International Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said United Flight 1108 to Boston, scheduled to depart at 8:32 a.m. Pacific Time, had to remove a passenger during taxi, CBS San Francisco reported.
Yakel said passengers became uncomfortable when a fellow passenger began taking pictures of flight attendants, CBS San Francisco reported.
As WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported, Christie was on the plane, and initial reports indicated that he had been threatened. But campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said the man never posed a verbal or physical threat.
Initially, passenger David Berlind tweeted that a threat was made to Christie, forcing the plane to return to the gate, CBS San Francisco reported. But Berlind later tweeted "He wasn't threatened He saw a guy taking pics of crew & emailing them in Arabic (said his seatmate)," CBS San Francisco reported.
A Transportation Security Administration spokesman said the decision to return to the gate was "pilot discretion," and the agency was not involved, CBS San Francisco reported.
The flight was delayed for more than three hours before Flightstats.com showed it departing around 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, CBS San Francisco reported.
Christie is heading to New Hampshire for campaign events.
