Thursday, December 16, 1999 Older Editions

PA student arrested for 'air rage'

By Rebecca Lipchitz

A Phillips Academy student with a reputation for being polite and cooperative was accused last week of interfering with a TWA flight crew.

Pedro Jereissati Ary, 17, a native of Brazil, was on TWA flight 709 to New York City last Saturday when he was asked to sit down, but allegedly refused.

James Borghesani, press secretary for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, says Ary was looking in overhead compartments on the plane when the flight crew asked him to take his seat. Ary refused, Borghesani says.

"He was looking in overhead bins and didn't sit down when he was told. That's enough to have him arrested," he says.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations say all passengers on a flight must be seated with seat belts fastened before the plane can take off.

The charge of interfering with a flight crew carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, Borghesani says.

PA officials declined to comment on the incident this week, calling it "a private matter." But reports this week say an administrator from Phillips Academy appeared with Ary in East Boston District Court this week and defended his character.

PA's international student coordinator Harrison F. McCann attended the court hearing with Ary this week at East Boston District Court. He described Ary as a good student who "doesn't make any waves."

"It was a big surprise to us. Pedro is a gentleman in every sense of the word and has great respect for teachers," says McCann, whose wife is Ary's Spanish teacher.

"I came when I heard he was in trouble. He didn't call me for help," McCann says.

Borghesani would not say how unruly or confrontational Ary became when told to sit down.

"He didn't sit down when he was told. (Whether he was confrontational) is irrelevant," he says.

Borghesani says the so-called incident of "air-rage" is not a sign of a growing trend so much as a crime popular in the media.

"What has increased is the coverage," Borghesani says.

Boston courts typically handle two or three such arrests per months in the past eight or nine years, Borghesani says.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13.