Man gets 18 months for trying to enter cockpit, then jumping from taxiing plane at LAX

A man was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison after he attempted to breach the cockpit of a taxiing plane before jumping from the craft last summer at Los Angeles International Airport.

Luis Armando Victoria Dominguez, 34, of La Paz, Mexico, was on a SkyWest Airlines flight scheduled to depart to Salt Lake City around 7 p.m. June 25, federal prosecutors said, when he sprinted down the aisle toward the cockpit as the plane began to taxi to the runway.

Victoria began pounding on the cockpit door and attempted to open it, then pushed past a flight attendant and opened an emergency exit door, partially deploying the emergency slide, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

The pilot immediately shut down the engines to prevent the slide from being sucked into the propellers, federal prosecutors said in the sentencing memorandum.

A passenger attempted to restrain Victoria, but he broke free and jumped from the exit. He missed the emergency slide and landed directly on the tarmac, breaking his right leg, which required surgery.

Victoria pleaded guilty in federal court in October to one count of interference with flight crew members and a flight attendant.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered him to pay $20,132 in restitution in addition to the 18-month prison sentence.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.