‘Unruly’ Nebraska man who caused emergency landing in Cedar Rapids will remain in jail

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Nebraska man, who is accused of trying to open a plane’s exit door, causing an emergency landing at The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids last week, withdrew his motion for a detention hearing in federal court Friday.

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A lawyer for Mario Marco Nikprelaj, 23, of Elkhorn, Neb., charged in U.S. District Court with one count of interference with flight crew members and attendants, said there wasn’t a set plan for where Nikprelaj would live, if released pending trial, which is required for consideration by the court.

Magistrate Judge Mark Roberts, during a brief hearing, said the hearing would be reset if the defense files another motion at a later time.

Roberts asked if the prosecution wanted to move on to the preliminary hearing to determine probable cause because Nikprelaj wasn’t indicted. He was charged by complaint last Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Morfitt said they didn’t have any witnesses and would rely on the details in the complaint.

Roberts said based on the complaint he found there was probable cause for the charge issued against Nikprelaj.

Nikprelaj remains in jail without bond under custody with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Plane incident

According to a federal complaint, flight attendants notified the pilot before the SkyWest flight took off from Omaha, Neb., on July 17, that a passenger — Nikprelaj — seated in the exit row was being “unruly,” but the attendants were able to “satisfactorily control the situation.”

Nikprelaj boarded the flight with no checked baggage or a carry-on and was traveling with a one-way ticket to Detroit, Mich., the complaint stated.

Shortly after the flight began its ascent, Nikprelaj left his seat against the crew’s instructions and “flipped off” the flight attendants, but by the time the flight had reached 10,000 feet he returned to his seat and appeared to be falling asleep, according to the complaint.

About 20 miles from Cedar Rapids, a flight attendant made an emergency call to the pilot, advising him Nikprelaj attempted to open the plane’s emergency exit door and started fighting with other passengers.

The pilot made an emergency call to air traffic control, informing personnel he needed to make an emergency landing in at The Eastern Iowa Airport, according to the complaint.

About five minutes later, Nikprelaj was still attempting to open the emergency exit door and was fighting with one of the flight attendants, the complaint stated. The pilot, over the intercom, asked the passengers to remain seated, but he also asked if there were any willing passengers that might assist the flight attendants in subduing Nikprelaj. Three passengers volunteered to help.

After the plane landed, flight attendants and passengers told authorities, during interviews, that Nikprelaj pushed, grabbed their arms and threatened to kill them while they tried to stop him from opening the exit door.

During an interview with Nikprelaj, he told Cedar Rapids police officers he “smacked” a flight attendant’s hand when the attendant attempted to block him from walking down the aisle when he was required to be seated.

Police, during Nikprelaj’s arrest, found he was carrying Xanax pills concealed under his scrotum, according to the complaint.

Nikprelaj was initially charged in Linn County District Court last week with assault, disorderly conduct, first-degree harassment, unlawful possession of a prescription drug and failure to affix drug tax stamp, but Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks dropped those charges last Friday when he was informed federal charges would be filed.

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