Smoker Involved in Melee Aboard Plane Sentenced to 15 Days in Jail

A mortician whose outburst was part of an angry free-for-all that erupted aboard a cross-country TWA flight when smoking was unexpectedly banned was sentenced Monday to serve 15 days in jail and pay a $500 fine.

James J. Tabacca, 34, was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service for his conviction on one count of interfering with the duties of a flight crew member stemming from his noisy tirade against a flight attendant who ordered him to extinguish his cigarette.

“I think it’s obviously essential for the safety of the flying public that all passengers abide by the regulations involved with flight conduct, and not in effect try and take the law into their own hands,” U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima said.

Tabacca, a North Hollywood resident, had denied the flight attendant’s allegation that he twisted her arm and threw her into the aircraft’s bulkhead.

But jurors, nonetheless, found that he had “intimidated” the stewardess by swearing and screaming at her over the smoking ban.

Tabacca was one of a number of smoking passengers who energetically objected when all smoking in the coach and business sections of the Boston-to-Los Angeles aircraft was banned.

TWA officials had imposed the ban minutes before takeoff in compliance with federal law because of the large number of passengers who had requested non-smoking seats.

Defense lawyers described the scene in coach class as a near riot, with one flight attendant roaming the aisle with a fire extinguisher proclaiming, “Where are the smokers? I’ll put ‘em out.”

Tabacca’s lawyers blamed TWA officials for allowing the incident to get out of hand and noted that Tabacca was sitting in the business-class section well in front of the chaos in the coach section.

“I can’t even believe that this is even happening to me,” Tabacca told the judge. “If this is the worst thing that could possibly ever happen to me in my life, then I thank my lucky stars.”

But Tabacca added that he “never intentionally meant an interruption or to upset anyone.”

Under the statute on which he was convicted, Tabacca could have faced up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. One of his lawyers, Deputy Federal Public Defender Kerry Bensinger, urged the judge to impose a sentence of probation.

But Tashima instead imposed a prison term of 18 months, suspending all but 15 days and imposing an additional two years’ probation.