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Belligerent JetBlue Biter May Have Had NYPD-Related Mental Problems
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 29, 2011
Modified Nov 29, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 29, 2011
Modified Nov 29, 2011
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Yesterday the Daily News was all about "hero cop" Anibal Mercado, who subdued a drunk and belligerent (allegedly punchy and bitey) 22-year-old on a flight from the Dominican Republic to JFK this weekend. It seemed like a simple, feel-good narrative: police officers doing their job off-duty! But now there's a new twist, because it turns out the drunk man, Antonio Ynoa, suffers from mental problems related to a severe head injury caused by the police.
A few years back the city paid Ynoa $900,000 after "a cop car struck a scooter he was riding in Bushwick" and according to his brother he has never quite been the same. Perhaps that settlement is how Ynoa was able to put up his $200,000 bond? The bad flier was released from Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday and immediately "tore off a blue baseball jacket and strutted toward Tillary St. in his undershirt with a big smile across his face" while exclaiming, "I feel like a movie star!" He then held up a copy of yesterday's Daily News, which had the story on front page, and declared, "Here’s my script."
According to the complaint filed yesterday Ynoa not only punched a flight attendant three times in his face and attempted to head-butt him after being told he couldn't drink duty-free booze on the flight, he also is said to have bitten the attendant's face before Anibal Mercado stepped in. Ynoa's fighting didn't stop after he'd been held down. He allegedly spat so much on the flight that a paper mask had to be put over his face, and after the flight landed cops say he managed to punch and kick at Port Authority officers as well! That's just typical movie star behavior for you.
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Garth Johnston
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