A newly released video shows a woman who sneaked onto a flight from New York to Paris last week and was removed from a return flight to the United States after she started screaming.
In the footage, the woman shouts: “Please help here!” and the “United States broke my heart.” The woman was only identified by French border police as a Russian passenger.
Gary Treichler was on Flight 265 from Paris to New York with his family on Saturday and said the woman started getting louder.
“Something made her stop cooperating,” he told NBC’s TODAY show.
After about twenty minutes, the woman began to calm down, according to Treichler. Four armed French police officers and an interpreter were brought on board to assist.
“She was then escorted off the plane,” he said. “Our flight was probably two and a half to three hours late for takeoff.”
The woman was placed in French custody, a source told NBC News on Sunday.
The woman was denied entry to France after boarding a Delta flight on Nov. 26 without a boarding pass and after bypassing two “identity verification and boarding status stations,” a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration said. The flight was en route from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
She underwent a full security check, meaning she was not carrying any prohibited items and did not pose a security threat, the TSA said. She was taken off the plane by police when it landed in Paris.
A French border police spokesperson said she was refused entry because she did not have a valid travel document or visa. She had a valid US residence permit.
The TSA said Monday it will open a civil case against any passenger if there is evidence the rules have been broken. TSA will meet the woman at John F. Kennedy International Airport when she returns to the US
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
